After a successful bond listing coupled with growth in deposits, PPCBank is aiming for a strong performance in 2021.

PPCBank listed corporate bonds in two tranches on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) – the first in April and the other in October – totalling 800,000 bonds worth some 80 billion riel (around $20 million).

The bonds, with a maturity period of three years, come with an attractive interest rate of 6.5 per cent per annum.

“The second listing was oversubscribed, which demonstrates confidence in the bank’s performance.

“Funds raised from the listings are directed towards continuous funding for small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The stock market listing and the bank’s ongoing investment in SMEs have paid dividends for PPCBank this year,” said the financial institution’s president Shin Chang Moo.

In order to maintain its growth momentum in 2021, the South Korean Bank, jointly owned by JB Financial Group and Apro Financial Co, has been formulating prudent corporate strategies.

The bank extended its presence across the Kingdom by opening additional branches, with 23 now open for business.

It added two new branches in Phnom Penh in 2020 – one on Preah Sihanouk Boulevard and the other in Chroy Changvar district.

And with the relocation of its Daun Penh district branch from Central Market to near Calmette Hospital, PPCBank is widening its presence across the capital.

With the new Calmette Branch, the bank is ensuring its leading suite of products and services is even more accessible in Phnom Penh’s main central business district.

The number of the bank’s ATMs has also grown significantly this year to 65, largely to ease banking services for clients, particularly at a time when social distancing has become the norm due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In order to assist SMEs, PPCBank has established two dedicated SME centres – one at the Heng Ly Market branch in the capital and at the new Chroy Changvar site.

These centres, both strategically located, provide expert consultations to SME operators needing financial advice and have contributed to a 6.82 per cent increase in PPCBank’s SME clients as at the end of the third quarter of 2020.

“Business owners appear to be enjoying the bank’s approach, with dedicated staff offering in-depth consultation services which are designed to tailor loan products with some of the most favourable conditions in the market.

“Information and assistance is also given about diversifying payment methods through contactless card terminals.

“These are not only helping SMEs collect payments safely from their customers, but also reducing their operating costs, which has been a major focus for the vast majority of business owners this year,” said Shin.

As part of its efforts to ensure the safety of customers and so they can continue to enjoy the bank’s services without interruptions, PPCBank has introduced several services to guarantee convenient banking.

Customers can rely on the bank’s mobile app to make utility bill payments and transfer money to other local banks, as well as to international banks via a Swift code.

Contactless Visa cards are fast becoming another preferred way to avoid handling cash, and PPCBank ran a promotion to waive card exchange fees for those wanting the contactless payment method.

Clients in Phnom Penh can still enjoy the free delivery of new contactless Visa cards.

PPCBank set up a 24/7 customer service centre that is accessible via landline and mobile phones, live chat through Facebook, the bank’s website, mobile app and the smartBiz corporate banking solution.

“[In 2020] PPCBank had plans to get even closer to its customers because the pandemic has meant needing to learn how to maintain safe social distancing.

“The bank quickly understood how important it was for customers to have options when managing their finances without needing to visit branches in person,” said Shin.

With the pandemic making cross-border travel difficult, PPCBank has launched various online platforms to serve its international clientele, who mostly hail from South Korea, Japan and China.

To provide up-to-date information, the “Japan Desk” website was launched to enable Japanese clients, while platforms in Korean and Chinese will soon be available.

“With the pandemic still around, PPCBank understands that people are still choosing to interact remotely, hence we have launched new websites in Khmer and English.

“It has certainly been a busy but productive 2020 at PPCBank. We wish everyone a happy New Year, and we can only hope that 2021 is much kinder to us all.

“With vaccines slowly being approved and rolled out around the world, we can all start to see some light at the end of what is proving a very long tunnel,” said Shin.