ARDB teams up with Wing to streamline transactions
THE state-owned Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB) signed an agreement with Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialised Bank, a leading mobile banking service provider in Cambodia, to streamline customer transactions.
The move is in response to an increase in credit loans from the government’s $50 million special financing scheme, ARDB CEO Kao Thach told a press conference on Wednesday.
The agreement will smoothen the payment process for principal and interest and will make it easier for customers to carry out transactions safely, quickly and at a reduced cost, he said.
“Our goal is for interest and principal to be paid through Wing and then payments transferred to ARDB,” he said. “It is a convenience for our clients not to come to the headquarters.”
Wing CEO Manu Rajan said the agreement is a joint effort to provide financial products and services to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia’s agribusiness sector.
“We are extremely delighted that Wing has entered into this agreement with ARDB to begin a new partnership that will go a long way in driving financial inclusion and provide easy access to loan services to every SME and agribusiness in Cambodia,” he said.
He said ARDB customers will be able to make loan repayments at any of the 7,500 Wing Cash Xpress centres across the country saving them time and money that would otherwise have been spent travelling.
“We believe that our partnership today will let us serve the diverse money transfer and loan repayment needs of the hundreds of SMEs and agribusinesses in Cambodia conveniently, safely and securely,” said Rajan.
ARDB has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cambodia Investors Corporation Plc to provide debt guarantee cooperation for SMEs and other borrowers.
“The company will assist SMEs that lack collateral, provide more credit for business expansion and increase the relationships between SMEs and lenders for credit assessment,” said Thach.
ARDB has received applications for loans from 232 SMEs of Special Financing Projects as of Wednesday for around $25 million, of which ARDB had already approved $2.4 million mostly for fish, poultry and vegetable farmers, said Thach.