Vietnam's MB Bank starts operations in Cambodia

The Vietnam's Military Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (MB Bank) on Tuesday opened its first branch here to broaden trade and investment ties between the two neighbors. It is the fourth Vietnamese bank operating in Cambodia and brings the total number of the kingdom's commercial banks to 31. The other three Vietnamese banks here are the Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia, Sacombank, and Agribank. Speaking at the opening of the MB Bank-Phnom Penh, Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), said the bank's presence reflects Vietnamese investors' trust in Cambodia's economic and political stability. "The bank's presence here is also thanks to good traditional relations between the two governments," he said. "The bank is very important to contribute to the development of Cambodia's economy." He said the bank would bring in new technology and innovative banking products to develop Cambodian banking industry. Meanwhile, the governor said that Cambodia's banking industry has grown well this year in terms of deposits and loans. By the end of October this year, the customers' deposits in the banking sector grew by 16 percent to 4.99 billion U.S. dollars from 4.3 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2010, while the customers' credits increased by 27 percent to 4.07 billion U.S. dollars from 3.2 billion U.S. dollars. So far, some 1.51 million people have used Cambodia's banks, he added. Established 17 years ago, the MB Bank is one amongst 5 largest commercial banks in Vietnam, according to the bank's press release at the launch. "In Cambodia, the bank would focus its loans on corporate and institutional customers, small and medium enterprises, microfinance firms and individual customers," Le Cong, the bank's Chief Executive Officer, said at the launch. "The bank will also help to attract more Vietnamese investors to Cambodia." In ASEAN countries, besides Cambodia, the MB Bank has operated in Laos since last December, he added. According to the reports of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, Vietnam is Cambodia's 7th largest investor with total investments of 812 million U.S. dollars from 1994 to October 2011. On the trade side, during the first nine months of this year, the two-way trade was 2.07 billion U.S. dollars, 59 percent up from 1.3 billion dollars in the same period last year, according to Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce.