Company Seeks To Expand Money Transfer by Phone

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 June 2009

As soon as you hear the beeping alert, money has been transferred to your account. That’s because Wing, the first instant transaction service in Cambodia, is up and running.

Wing started in November 2008 and now has around 16,000 customers, mostly students and garment factory workers. The service has been limited because only one moble phone service, Hello, can undertake money transfers.

Cambodia has about 4 million mobile phone users, and Wing is in talks with other companies to extend its coverage.

The Wing service acts like a traditional bank account, but money can be sent via cell phone at a cheaper cost, Wing’s managing director, Brad Jones, told VOA Khmer.

Wing allows users to send up to 4 million riel, around $1,000, through mobile phones, with a service charge of one-quarter of a percent.

“The benefit is to reduce a community’s vulnerability,” Jones said. “The end result is a community that becomes a Wing customer that is at much less risk of losing its money and has the ability to send money at a much cheaper cost.”

In Cambodia, money transfers have become necessary among migrant laborers who frequently send money to support their families in rural areas. Very few of them use formal banking services, preferring instead to send money through taxi drivers, friends or relatives, means with high costs and no guarantees.

“It will strengthen the financial system and help economic growth,” Om Seng Bora, head of VisionFund, a microfinance institution partnering with Wing.

Mobile transfer service has operated in many countries in the world and it has become very popular in Philippine, India and Kenya, he said.

“It is amazing,” said Thor Sophorn, an agent at a Wing transfer shop in central Phnom Penh. “It is modern and very easy. We can send money in a minute.”

Wing does face a perception among potential customers that money can be lost in the process, but Jones said the system was based on modern technology and was very secure.

Major Banks To Provide Loans for Smaller Enterprises

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 June 2009

Cambodia Public Bank and ANZ Royal will provide loans to small and medium businesses, through a program with the UNDP and International Trade Center.

The loans will be available from October 2009 and will focus on 100 agricultural-related businesses. The two banks were selected from some other banks that had an interest in offering loans to small and medium enterprises, said Hin Wisal, UNDP assistant country director.

The UNDP is working with the International Trade Center to provide technical support to banks and businesses for the 18-month project. The Agence France de Development will provide credit guarantees for two partner banks.

“It is very important for SMEs to get formal loans from commercial banks to extend their growth,” Wisal told VOA Khmer. “To support policy development, we need to promote formal access to credit.”

Trade experts and economists say Cambodia’s small and medium enterprises are currently driving the economy. But these businesses lack the formal financial support they need to expand, because banking and finance in rural areas are not fully developed.

Studies show that of around 64,000 small and medium enterprises in Cambodia, only 80 percent get loans from banks. Informal loans, meanwhile, lead to financial problems down the road.

The bank-loan project will provide financial management training and guidance to enterprises. Under the project, the two banks will be able to evaluate strength and weakness of the businesses.

“More and more customers will seek a loan from a bank rather than other sources,” Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal said. “We make money, and they make money.”

Robert van Zwieten, director of capital markets and the financial sector for the Asian Development Bank, encouraged more banks to turn their eyes to small and medium businesses.

“It’s going to be far more interesting when you provide loans to SMEs, because they grow quicker, and SMEs are seen as the biggest generators of jobs,” he told VOA Khmer by phone from Singapore. “As a bank, if you have done a great service to your respective customer then you will have a long relationship for a long time to come and hopefully a profitable one. It will be beneficial for the country.”

Cambodia dispatches 52 peacekeeping soldiers to Sudan

PHNOM PENH, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia Wednesday sent 52 soldiers to clear mines in Sudan for UN peacekeeping mission to replace the old ones.

This group is the fourth batch of troops that Cambodia has sent for humanitarian affairs under the UN mission to Sudan, said Sem Sovanny, director of National Center of Peacekeeping Forces, Mine and UXO Clearance.

He said that the 52 soldiers will take turns for 135 soldiers who will come back from Sudan on Friday.

"Beside helping mines and UXOs clearance for UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur region, you all have to help other humanitarian affairs in Sudan like purified clean water, digging wells and housing for local people," Pol Saroeurn, General Commander in Chief said in farewell ceremony at Pochentong Airbase.

"You all have to display good image of Cambodia in this operation," he said.

"We all thanked for the Cambodian government that has the strong commitment for this contribution for the peace and stability of the world," said Teruo Jinnai, acting president for UN agencies and representative of UNESCO to Cambodia.

Cambodian soldiers who were sent to Sudan, as well as other ones who are prepared to be sent to Chad and Central Africa in the near future, have been trained with the UN standard by trainers from other countries, mainly the United States.

Cambodia is one of the countries suffered from the unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mines, and last year about 265 people were killed and wounded by the UXO and mines. Millions of mines and UXOs still laid under the ground of the country posting a threat to the lives of the people.