Phnom Penh, April 29: The Association of Banks in Cambodia convened its Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2021 on Thursday to review the implementation of the action plan, which has been implemented for the year of 2020 and the forward action planned for the year 2021 in order to strengthen the banking sector.
The 14th ABC’s AGM highlighted the actions taken and the achievement since the AGM of 2020. The agenda touched on various issues regarding compliance, objectives and functions of the Association and the scaling up of corporate and social responsibility and public relations, financial inclusion, legal and regulatory support, public awareness of financial literacy and banking products, consumer protection and complaint resolution, to protect the legitimate interests of members and clients alike, and sustainable financing.
Dr. In Channy, Chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia, began his opening remarks by welcoming all the members. The Chairman also noted that the current situation has been difficult as of late February since COVID-19 has started to spread inside Cambodia and has severally impacted all aspects of life in the Kingdom.
He also noted that the Cambodian economy and the financial institutions and all ABC Members are not immune to those dramatic impacts. As of March, he said banks and MFIs together have restructured loans of circa $4.5 billion, of which $3.5 are still actively restructured.
Dr. Channy added that the Royal Government is working hard to support all sectors and to relief the strain on people as well as the financial institutions. He said ABC has also not been restless in the last year while many events had to be cancelled to protect the community, some memorable events were facilitated safely as well as many knowledge building workshops were facilitated digitally, he added.
However, he added that last year, the ABC Members have all shown tremendous solidarity by not only sharing action plans and supporting the Cambodian people, but by also donating substantive amounts of financial as well as physical goods to support the Cambodian Government in the fight against COVID-19. With those actions in mind, he believes that the ABC and all its members can continue to work closely, as one industry and as part of the Cambodian society for a stable and strong financial system.
During the closing remarks, Dr. Channy, Chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia, thanked the members for joining the AGM this year. He said that though we currently have to conduct all such occasions via digital means, he is grateful that we can come together to discuss the state of our Association and our industry.
While the current lockdown and all related economic impacts bear hard on all our institutions, ABC is optimistic that this will only be of a short duration and that we soon can operate normally and smoothly; and that we can all ensure that our industry, the backbone of the economy, will be in full support of the economic recovery and upswing of Cambodia.
