ABA Bank
This Kazakh-managed, Canadian-owned Cambodian bank prides itself on its modernity. Its app and online banking functions are regarded by competitors as the industry benchmark in Phnom Penh, and customers seem to agree.
ABA’s youthful chief executive Askhat Azhikhanov claims active users of his app grew from 84,000 in October 2017 to 198,000 a year later.
“Self-banking,” as he calls it, be it through the app, ATMs or ABA’s website, now accounts for 91% of the bank’s transactions, some 45% in dollar value.
“Basic services are delivered through an infrastructure that is modern in every way,” he says.
ABA has advanced payments systems within its mobile app, allowing customers to use their smartphones to pay for items such as groceries and meals at the point of sale, or through scanning to the vendor via the ABA Pay feature.
Importantly, as the central National Bank of Cambodia mandates that a basic 10% of the country’s money supply must be in local riel, Azhikhanov claims his ATM network – which he says is the second largest in Cambodia – already has functionality in both dollars and riel.