News
Central bank orders lenders to step up lending in riel
Cambodian microfinance institutions have said they would comply with a new regulation issued by the central bank that requires them to hold at least 10 percent of their loan portfolio in the Kingdom’s national currency. A prakas published by the National Bank of Cambodia on ...
Thai banks bullish on Vietnam even if Trump scraps TPP
Thai banks in Vietnam believe a large labour force and low wages will still be magnets for trade and foreign direct investment in that country even if the Trans-Pacific Partnership is scrapped in line with US President-elect Donald Trump’s policy. Vietnam is among the 12 Pacific ...
Bank Negara Malaysia dealing with short-term volatility of the ringgit
A slew of measures undertaken by Bank Negara Malaysia are expected to help enhance a continuous supply of foreign currency. To discourage the trading of non-deliverable forwards offshore, the central bank has announced several initiatives to liberalise and deregulate the onshore ringgit-hedging market. They include providing ...
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 ...
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 ...
