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Cambodia: Push to standardize leasing sector regulations
The Commerce Ministry is pushing for leasing sector regulations to be internationally standardized to boost business activities both domestically and internationally and further diversify businesses in the country.
The ministry is asking an interministries group and relevant parties to standardize the regulations as soon as possible in order to grow the sector, according to Commerce Ministry spokesperson Soeung Sophary.
“We want to see regulations of the leasing sector be standardized and put into use because it will help reduce the risk for both borrowers and lenders,” she said yesterday.
Ms. Sophary said the interministries group, which includes the Justice Ministry, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the Commerce Ministry, are only in the discussion stage.
Last week, Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak, in a meeting with officials from the interministries group, said standardized financial leasing regulations would drive efficiency of the leasing sector in Cambodia.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, businesspeople and farmers would have further access to financial services from banks and microfinance institutions, he added.
Ms. Sophary said the regulations would cover the diversified business activities in Cambodia, adding that they will be used to solve conflicts or hand out punishments in the sector.
“We don’t want to mention whether there are problems. The services of private financial firms already exists, but we urge to have regulations standardized internationally so more investors can step into this sector,” she said, emphasizing that strong regulations would attract investment.
In Cambodia, implementation of leasing sector regulations is authorized by the ministries of commerce and justice as well as the NBC.
According to the NBC, by the end of 2016 there were 12 financial leasing companies in Cambodia with total assets of about $156 million.
Source: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35695/push-to-standardize-leasing-sector-regulations/