Vietnam-Japan bank venture sets sights on Cambodia retail financing

Japan’s Shinsei Bank will collaborate with Vietnam’s MB Bank to exploit retail financing opportunities in Cambodia, where the latter has been permitted to set up a bank.

The MB Cambodia Bank is headquartered at No.146, Preah Norodom Avenue, Chamkar Mon district, Phnom Penh.

Shinsei will acquire a 49% stake in the Cambodian subsidiary of Hanoi-based MB Bank for an undisclosed sum in the fourth quarter of this year under a master agreement inked in December. The Vietnamese bank has named Shinsei a strategic partner in its Cambodia arm.

The two sides expect their partnership to build the new commercial lender, with a minimum charter capital of $75 million, into a leading digital and retail bank in Cambodia.

MB Bank is known for its rich experience in developing digital banking in Vietnam. It has also developed a solid business foundation and market understanding after 11 years of operating in Cambodia.

Shinsei Bank has more than 50 years of banking experience in Japan with particular achievements in retail banking and consumer finance.

Vietnamese banks’ presence in Cambodia began in 2009 with the state-owned BIDV setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary, BIDC, in 2009.

It was followed by Ho Chi Minh City-based Sacombank, which inaugurated Sacombank Cambodia in October 2011. That December, MB Bank opened a branch in the kingdom with an initial capital of $39 million.