Veteran banker Dr In Channy’s perception towards the notion that Cambodia has a low level of financial literacy may differ to the common perception.

His views could be slightly perplexing and even demolish global findings that Cambodia’s financial education is rather weak.

“I rate it as very high,” said Channy, who is the chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia.

“Many people in Cambodia understand these basic banking and financial services, and have used them wisely and smartly as part of their daily life.

“If they need a loan the customer can choose to go to commercial banks, specialised banks, or licensed microfinance institutions,” he added.

Well, the definition of financial literacy can be little tricky and even hard to define and Channy’s comments could open up another debate.

According to the Asian Development Bank Institute 2017 report, the overall scores of financial literacy in Cambodia was 11.5 among the 30 countries that were sampled – considered a low rating.

But Channy sticks to his hard facts. Banks and financial institutions have provided over 90 per cent of loans to the gross domestic product (GDP), and over 100 per cent of savings and deposit to GDP in 2018. These payment services have been offered throughout the country, he said.

About 43 commercial banks and 78 microfinance institutions operate across the Kingdom.

The facts indicate that the Kingdom’s financial sector remains robust and the public, are well informed about financial dealings from savings and loans to deposits as he explains.

“It’s not hard to understand basic banking and financial services in Cambodia, one should understand that basic banking and financial services are loans, credit, savings, and payments.

“The reality in Cambodia is that access to finance is very high, it has proved that financial literacy in Cambodia is also high. One should not assume that the customers have limited financial literacy at all,” said Channy, who is also the Chairman and President of Acleda Bank Plc, a leading commercial bank in Cambodia.

An array of financial transactions take place at any commercial bank’s counter, be it savings and deposits or fund transfers.

“The financial literacy is [obvious], without financial literacy customers would have difficulty understanding new financial products and services, and would have low access to finance,” he added.

Cambodia is not a young country anymore, it’s one of the mature countries with strong political, social, and economic stability, and it’s with strong regulators, especially the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).

Cambodia is already in the lower middle income country bracket, it is predicted to progress into the middle income bracket by 2030, and a high income country by 2050.

With this progression, the financial market is expected to mature as well and the public need to have a good grasp of more complex financial subjects like interest rates, pension schemes or retirement plans, insurance, mortgages and wealth management, among others.

“Most countries in the world, especially the developed and developing countries have basic banking and finance in their primary school curriculum, and Cambodia should have it like others, too, to increase and to improve the level of financial literacy for the general public,” he said.

He added that customer education should be done regularly, and not only when a new product is launched, it should be a routine affair, and target the public at large, and face to face education and training would be ideal.

“The promotion of financial literacy has primarily been done by banks and financial institutions, and ACLEDA Bank Plc. is among those institutions who actively promotes financial literacy since we need to best serve our customers, and we want to make sure that our customers understand bank and financial institution products one hundred percent.

“If it’s part of the school curriculums, it will help everyone to better understand basic banking and financial services, and prepare themselves to better plan their financial management at their household level at least. Basic banking and financial are part of everyone’s daily life which one should know for their own benefit,” said Dr Channy.