The Cambodia Fintech Association (CFA) was officially launched on Wednesday with the aim of facilitating collaboration among players in the Kingdom in its nascent financial technology sector.

The CFA will operate out of a 464 square metre coworking space in the capital’s Daun Penh district. It counts digital payment companies, banks and financial operators among its members.

CFA vice-president Eddie Lee said Cambodia is progressing in its financial technology, noting that the Kingdom’s central bank has explored using blockchain to track interbank transactions.

“Fintech startups are slowly but surely starting to surface in Cambodia,” he said.

Lee said a CFA representative has signed Memoranda of Understandings with the Taiwan Fintech Association, Thailand Fintech Association and Singapore Fintech Association to establish bridges with similar groups in the region.

He said the next step would be to register CFA as part of the Asean Fintech Network.

National Bank of Cambodia director-general of central banking Chea Serey said at the CFA’s launch ceremony that fintech development in the country has been gaining momentum, and brought many people into the fold of traditional financial services.

She added that fintech is giving people in remote areas access to banking services and offering them more opportunities to move out of poverty.

“We want people in remote areas to have convenient, affordable, fair and safe access to financial services,” she said.