The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) recently became the 99th principal member of AFI, which now has 123 members from 95 countries. The bank’s commitment to support financial inclusion has made it a true leader in the Southeast Asian region.
The bank was one of the earlier adopters in providing an appropriate enabling environment that helped to successfully transition microfinance institutions into the commercial financial sector and helped to provide regulation and supervision that has dramatically increased access to financial services. These regulations have also paved the way for non-deposit taking microfinance institutions to transition to specialized banks, and ultimately become some the largest banks in the country serving millions of customers, especially low income households.
Regulations around specialized banks also helped NBC to enable the transition of one of the more innovative e-money operators in the region, WING, to become a specialized bank. In addition, innovative use of agent networks is now providing new opportunities to bank customers due largely to the regulatory environment provided by the National Bank of Cambodia.
“We welcome the National Bank of Cambodia as the newest principal member of AFI and commend the bank for being a role model when it comes to supporting financial inclusion in the country,” said Dr. Alfred Hannig, Executive Director at AFI. “The bank has been associated with AFI for several years and we are happy to see them finally join as a fully-fledged member. We know that they will have a lot of lessons they will be able to share as well as learn from others within the AFI Network.”