Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) has deepened its presence in Cambodia over the past decade. In the past few years, the bank has followed its parent group’s goals to promote consumer banking in the Southeast Asian country through digital finance as it strives to enhance the digital experience for people who use its financial services.
The number of people using the Bakong Clearing and Transaction System since the Cambodian government launched it in 2020 has reached 7.9 million, or about half of the country’s population, a sign of the increasing demand for digital payment services.
Cathay United Bank (Cambodia) Corp in February last year launched a new mobile banking app — mBanking — integrated with the Bakong system, becoming the first Taiwanese bank in Cambodia to allow clients to open digital accounts with access to the state-backed fund transfer and payment system.
Cathay United Bank said that its Cambodia branches processed more than 6,000 deposits on average per month last year, indicating that there is real demand for the services.
In October last year, it greatly expanded the number of its service points for deposits and withdrawals in Cambodia to 15,000 by partnering with Southeast Asia’s leading fintech company TrueMoney, aiming to meet local clients’ demand for savings and withdrawal services.
The bank is also committed to providing KHQR payment capabilities in Cambodia. KHQR is a QR code system for retail payments in the country. The number of merchants using KHQR payment services has reached about 4,000, the bank said, adding that it would continue its efforts to provide complete cash access to merchants.
As there are promising opportunities in the payment business in ASEAN, the bank aims to develop consumer banking to expand its customer base and further promote its online “mBanking” services, Cathay United Bank (Cambodia) president Yeh Zhan-hao (葉展皓) said.
In addition, the bank would continue to uphold the spirit of “One Team, One Bank,” expand the deployment of its digital infrastructure and strengthen the integration of its sales channels in Cambodia, Yeh said.
It hopes to collaborate with other third-party partners to improve its services and help the bank further embrace local customers with digital finance services.
The bank aims to provide the highest-quality consumer banking and digital finance solutions in Southeast Asia, it said.
