Lack of awareness and investment hampering local fintech sector

Despite experiencing rapid growth in the last few years, financial technology services in the Kingdom are still underdeveloped and underused, insiders said last week during the annual conference of the National Bank of Cambodia.

To fulfill its potential in the Cambodian economy, fintech must overcome a number of challenges, including lack of consumer awareness, a weak regulatory framework, and scant funding and investment.

Ouk Sarat, director of NBC’s payment system department, pointed out that the range of fintech services in the Kingdom is very narrow, comprising mostly digital payments, remittances, and online banking options.

“Other areas of fintech, like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are still largely unexplored in our country.

“While smartphone and Internet-related technologies are flourishing, we are not seeing much of other fintech technologies. Unfortunately, I do not see much progress when it comes to fintech,” he said.

Mr Saret said that Cambodians generally lack awareness of fintech, and added that it was important to boost public awareness of the technology and its applications.

“A lot of Cambodian are using smartphones, mostly in urban areas, but they still lack understanding on fintech. At the same time, local investors do not seem interested in the sector either,” he added.

Kimty Kormoly, deputy director general of central banking, said fintech can help local financial companies enhance efficiency, improve the electronic payment ecosystem and lower transaction costs for customers.

“Fintech allows banks to reduce costs and deliver their services more efficiently,” he said.

In Channy, president and group managing director of Acleda Bank, said fintech will play an important role in developing the local banking sector and other industries in the Kingdom. He said the technology can help mitigate risks for banks and microfinance institutions while enhancing convenience for customers.

However, before this potential is realised, a number of barriers must be overcome, particularly a lack of public awareness and a low financial literacy rate.

A recent report for the National Bank of Cambodia notes that the development of fintech in Cambodia is still in an infant stage, mostly centred on services like e-wallets, mobile transactions, and cross-border transactions.

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