Cambodia’s stock exchange may be a decade old this year, but it is one of the quietest bourses in Asia. TheCambodia Securities Exchange has just 13 listed securities – seven stocks and six bonds. The most recent listing was a $3 million deal by the Cambodian arm of Malaysian electric power company Pestech in August.
When the primary market only brings a handful of deals over the years, market participants have to be more innovative. Acleda Securities, under the leadership of president and chief executive Prom Visoth, has done just that, making it Asiamoney’s pick for best securities house in Cambodia in 2021.
Secondary market liquidity has slowly increased on the bourse, with the help of a mobile trading system (MTS) that was launched in 2018. Acleda also introduced its own mobile app, ToanChet, in February 2020. Account holders at Acleda Bank, and any other bank that uses Acleda for cash settlement, can use the app, a roll-out that gave the securities house a leg-up in the secondary market on the CSX.
Acleda was the top securities firm on the exchange by trading volume for every month in the year to the end of June 2021.