News

Chief Cambodia Specialized Bank, a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm, will begin operations in Cambodia next month, its management said on Monday. Sokun Chakriya, head of marketing and sales at Chief Cambodia, said the bank aims to increase access to finance in Cambodia’s agricultural ...

Singapore Banking Corporation Ltd. (SBC Bank), a leading commercial bank in Cambodia, signed a memorandum of understanding with JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB, for the issuance of JCB cards in Cambodia. A ceremony to commemorate the milestone moment was held ...

Cambodia’s inflation rate has accelerated to 2.9 percent in the first six months of the year, up from 1.8 percent over the same period last year, according to a report of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Wednesday. “The rate, below 3 percent, is low ...

The U.S. tax collection agency is this week training Cambodian bank staff as well as anti-corruption officials, police, judges and prosecutors in how to investigate financial activity to detect wrongdoing, officials said Monday. U.S. Embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh said the program, called Intermediate Financial Investigations Training, ...

In 2010, the Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, a casino investment on Kampot province’s border with Vietnam that included luxury karaoke rooms and suites, launched with high hopes of attracting Vietnamese gamblers. At the end of December, Ha Tien Vegas closed down. To the north, in ...

Economic diversification is attracting substantial sums of FDI from China and beyond. Rich in history and culture and blessed with wonderful natural and human resources that are driving its impressive economic growth and attracting record sums of foreign direct investment (FDI), the Kingdom of Cambodia offers ...

Deposit and loans at major commercial banks have continued to climb over the first half of this year, industry officials say. Grant Knuckey, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank, said yesterday that ANZ continues to see strong growth in trade finance led by the agricultural ...

Mizuho Bank, one of Japan’s largest banks, opened a representative office here Monday thanks to increasing interest in Cambodia by Japanese investors, a bank official said. To date, Cambodia has five foreign banks’ representative offices, 34 commercial banks, seven specialized banks and 37 microfinance institutions, ...

As trade activity between Cambodia and China intensifies, banks are seeing an increase in deals transacted in yuan, the Chinese currency. Operating in Cambodia since 2010, Bank of China’s Phnom Penh Branch has been trying to promote business transactions in yuan, and has seen a significant ...

A new Malaysian player in Cambodia’s expanding banking sector aims to capture the “emerging affluent” with its mobile and online services. Malaysian-based Hong Leong Bank will begin operating in Phnom Penh today, with a branch on Street 214. Joe Farrugia, CEO of Hong Leong Bank Cambodia, ...

Hong Leong Bank Bhd’s (HLB) subsidiary Hong Leong Bank (Cambodia) PLC (HLBC) has clinched a banking licence for its operations in the country from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). HLBC, a commercial bank with a capital of RM119.25mil, would begin operations on July 8, the ...

The expanding banking sector and the spread of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in rural areas have failed to elbow informal, unlicensed money lending out of the market, industry experts say. Fast and easy access to money – as well as the fear of “losing face” by borrowing ...

As volatility strikes Asian markets in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve winding down quantitative easing – the practice of injecting money into the economy – the National Bank of Cambodia says the Kingdom will remain largely insulated thanks to an investment market still in ...

Taiwan-based Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ltd plans to open a representative office in Cambodia, joining an increasing number of Taiwanese banks and garment industry investors in the Kingdom. Shanghai Commercial & Savings would enter a crowded sector, behind other Taiwanese-based financial intuitions [sic]. Hua ...

While Cambodia has made considerable strides in its banking sector, it still lags behind countries in the region in the areas of e-banking and access to services, industry experts attending the Fifth Banking and Microfinance Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh said yesterday. ...

Outstanding loans and deposits made at Cambodian banks grew by 32 per cent and 28 per cent respectively at the end of March this year from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). The data from the NBC that the ...

Nearly nine out of 10 Cambodians have confidence in local financial institutions, a trend that stands in sharp contrast to Europe and the US, a poll published last week found. However, industry insiders question the results, as the Kingdom’s financial services are still under-developed. The poll ...

Cambodian migrant workers sent home $256 million last year, according to a report from a U.N. agency and the World Bank, which was released in Bangkok yesterday. The report from the bank and Rome-based International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), titled Sending Money Home to Asia, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday lashed out at the opposition party’s concerns over the interest rates charged by commercial banks to farmers. SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said commercial banks in Cambodia charge customers very high interest rates, and said it is much higher than in other ...

The new 100,000 riel banknote depicting the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk is not just a pretty historical token. It will also help inject much needed cash into the economy, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. Although take-up will occur as older banknotes of other ...

Private car owners could soon be required to buy motor insurance if a planned law amendment gets the green light, stoking optimism that such a bill could put the brakes on Cambodia’s high rate of hit-and-run accidents. Currently, only commercial vehicles, such as buses, legally require ...

Japanese Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) signed an agreement yesterday with local Canadia Bank to shore up Japanese growth in Cambodia and to demonstrate its confidence in the Kingdom’s financial sector. BTMU’s managing executive officer, Takami Onodera, and Pung Kheav Se, chairman of Canadia Bank, yesterday ...

The National Assembly yesterday passed a law to amend three articles in the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing law by a vote of 83 to six. Speaking at the start of session, Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, said the amendments would give ...

Cambodia will launch a new 100,000-riel banknote (in equivalent to 25 U.S. dollars) in order to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of King Norodom Sihamoni on May 14, a central bank official said Wednesday. A sub-decree on the issuance of the new 100,000-riel banknote was signed ...