Union Commercial sees its deposits soar

DEPOSITS at the Union Commercial Bank increased more than 50 percent over the first nine months of the year, according to chairman Yum Sui Sang.

Some US$159 million had been deposited with the bank by the end of September, from $106 million at the beginning of the year, he said yesterday at the launch of the bank's new branch near Phnom Penh’s Olympic stadium.

The bank – which was the Kingdom’s seventh largest lender last year, according to National Bank of Cambodia statistics – had also extended $74 million in loans at the end of the third quarter. This marks a 19.3 percent increase from $62 million at the start of the year.

Its new Olympic branch represents UCB's fifth in the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia Neav Chanthana said deposits at the Kingdom’s 28 commercial banks had increased more than 20 percent in the first nine months.

Speaking to The Post at the opening of the new branch, she added that developing a sound financial sector and banking system required the utmost trust from customers and investors.

“This definitely reflects the key success of the bank, as well as building confidence in the Cambodian banking system,” she said yesterday.

According to the NBC’s annual supervisory report, total deposits in the Kingdom grew 32 percent to $3.3 billion in 2009 compared to a year earlier.
(sourece from the phnompenhpost newspaper,Thursday, 18 November 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara)