Presence will give banks a competitive edge

It noted the banking group’s efforts to promote digital payment and the use of the debit card, in addition to aggressive deposit campaigns have helped the bank to grow current account savings account (CASA) by more than 30 per cent last year.

Maybank Group’s regional presence also gives the bank an edge in Cambodia’s under-tapped wealth management segment where account holders can enjoy the bank’s premier wealth management and other services yet to be available in Cambodia such as portfolio management.

Additionally, the research firm gathered that customers can withdraw money from all the 900 automatic teller machines (ATMs) in Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Brunei and London free of charge as a Maybank premier wealth card holder.

It observed customers will also be charged with one of the lowest fees in Cambodia for the use of the Maybank Visa debit card.

Besides that, TA Research gathered that RHB Indochina and CIMB Bank have made significant inroads into Cambodia.

Despite operating with a branch network of 10 and 11 offices respectively, the research firm said their loans growth have been encouraging.

In particular, it gathered from the management team in RHB Indochina that business confidence has returned to Cambodia, brought by an influx of investors from China, Korea and Japan.

TA Research noted the bank’s net income expanded by eight per cent in 2015, driven by operating income growth in excess of 45 per cent and efforts were in place to contain costs as cost-to-income (CTI) ratio improved to 39 per cent from 49 per cent in 2014.

The research firm noted most of RHB Bank’s loans were focused in the business segment with consumer based loans accounting for just eight per cent of the banking group’s loan portfolio.

It added the total loans of the banking group’s operation in Cambodia expanded by 59 per cent year- on- year ( y- o- y), of which consumer loans climbed by 42 per cent y-o-y in 2015.

Apart from that, TA Research noted the central bank of Cambodia will continue to open the country’s doors to new entrants, in particular the large global banks.

As a result, the research firm envisages competition in the banking system to intensify, leading to milder growth prospects and narrower profit margins for banks.

It noted efforts by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBoC) to strengthen the banking system with the introduction of prudential measures such as tightening of the capital and liquidity buffers for commercial and specialised banks and microfinance institutions could erode the ability for banks to generate handsome profits, going forward.