Banking and financial services
Micro-finance
Japanese MFI starts social loans expansion
Japanese microfinance lender MJI Enterprise has started offering three new types of loan and is expanding into two new areas, its chief executive told The Myanmar Times. Yuko Kato said the firm is now offering education, health-care and solar power loans, in addition to its ...
KBank targets middle-income earners for its insurance
Kasikornbank is adjusting its back-office processes and training branch employees to better explain and sell insurance products to middle-income earners. Kattiya Indaravijaya, president of KBank, said that the Office of Insurance Commission wants banks to educate customers about insurance products that are not deposit products. ...
Visa bullish on nationwide growth in Myanmar
As only 0.5 per cent of the population has access to electronic payments so far, Visa Inc, the global payments firm, sees a lot of room for improvement in Myanmar. Arturo Planell, Visa country manager for Myanmar, said at a press conference last week that ...
Thai fintech Ascend Money plans SE Asia expansion
Ascend Money Co, a digital financial services venture between Charoen Pokphand Group and Ant Financial, is poised to embark on a $100 million expansion next year into Southeast Asia. The Bangkok-based firm, which operates payments and online lending platforms, will expand its network of sales ...
Lenders mull moveable assets
Cambodian financial intuitions should allow customers to use moveable assets as part of their collateral requirements to secure lines of credit, providing the government and lenders strengthen the legal framework for monitoring these assets, an economic researcher has argued. Speaking at the third annual macroeconomic ...
VN five-year economic plan to focus on non-state sector
Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung spoke to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) about the five-year economic restructuring plan. Is it feasible to raise two thirds of the capital resources required in the next five years (2016-2020) for economic ...
Myanmar start-ups run into hurdles
Although start-ups in Myanmar aim high for rapid growth, they face hurdles such as difficult access to funding, low user education, and a lack of proper laws and regulations. Lwin Htoo Ko, chief technical officer of ezStay, a digital platform that provides temporary accommodation to ...
IMF urges more efforts to cool rapid credit growth
Rapid credit growth continues to pose a risk to financial stability in Cambodia, requiring more regulation to reduce the impact of a possible economic downturn and more adequate assessments of loan defaults in at-risk sectors, the International Monetary Fund said in its latest Article IV ...
ANZ to remain in local market?
The chief executive of ANZ Royal Bank has denied media reports that the Australian and New Zealand Bank Group is considering pulling the plug on its Cambodian operations amid a planned retreat from the region’s markets. In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange on ...
USAID backs MFIs with $10m guarantee
USAID kicked off a seven-year program to guarantee over US$10 million in microfinance loans to the agricultural sector on September 20, as part of a new US effort to offer greater economic support to the country. The US development agency has signed a multi-bank loan portfolio ...
