Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 7, 2019 —IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting PPCBank to scale up its lending capacity to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia through financing and advisory services. This will help close the financing gap for businesses, boosting growth and creating jobs.
Over the past two decades, Cambodia has undergone a significant transition, sustaining an average growth rate of 7.7 percent between 1995 and 2018. While micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including women-owned ones have played a significant role in the economy, around 66 percent of them identify access to finance as a major obstacle. According to the IFC MSME Finance Gap Report (2017), the unmet financing demand of MSMEs in Cambodia is estimated to be $3.7 billion.
IFC will help address this challenge through providing a risk-sharing facility to PPCBank, the tenth largest commercial bank in Cambodia. Under this facility, IFC and PPCBank will each cover 50 percent of the risk on an eligible SME portfolio of up to $30 million. Over the next five years, PPCBank expects to extend about 5,500 loans worth $520 million to very small and small and medium enterprises, including women-owned ones.
“We have been working on several projects to develop products and services for SMEs and for women in Cambodia. Partnering up with IFC in a risk sharing facility and banking advisory for SMEs allows us to scale up lending to the underserved part of Cambodian population on better terms,” said Chang Moo SHIN, PPCBank President. “We are thrilled to contribute with bigger significance to financial inclusion through the partnership with IFC.”
The risk-sharing facility is a risk-mitigation tool under the IFC’s Small Loan Guarantee Program (SLGP) designed to increase financial institutions’ appetite to finance SMEs, including women-owned SMEs. This global program focuses on frontier markets, where lending is constrained by informality, high collateral requirements, and risk aversion. SLGP is supported by the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window, which helps catalyze investment in lower-income countries.
In addition, in partnership with the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IFC will advise PPCBank on the use of the risk-sharing facility and enhance PPCBank’s capacity to scale up financing to SMEs, including women-owned SMEs. The bank identifies SMEs as a new strategic segment and plans to broaden its client outreach through gender and digital finance.
“SMEs drive growth and employment in lower-income economies, but they struggle to attract financing because of their size, limited experience, and other factors. This risk-sharing facility will help PPCBank serve the needs of this segment that is so critical to Cambodia’s economy and demonstrate the ‘bankability’ of this client segment to other market players,” said Vivek Pathak, IFC Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific.
About IFC
IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world. In fiscal year 2018, we delivered more than $23 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org
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About PPCBank
Locally incorporated in September 2008 the Republic of Korea-owned PPCBank currently operates throughout 19 branches and 29 ATMs across Phnom Penh and major provinces of Cambodia. With its vision, “Success Story Creation Based on Localization and Advanced Model in Southeast Asia”, PPCBank commits to providing Omni channel experiences for its customers and non-customers. Ranging from social-thinking branches with coffee shops served by people with special needs in their locations, easy-banking Mobile App for individual customers to smartBiz, a corporate management system for corporate customers to bank and manage their payment collection more effectively with Virtual Account, PPCBank also provides Mobile Teller for onsite consultation within and out of the branch. PPCBank actively participates in financial inclusion campaign, run by the National Bank of Cambodia in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. For more information, visit www.ppcbank.com.kh
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