Interesting last sentence. Anyway, ABA must be fairly successful for NBC.


TORONTO (Reuters) - National Bank of Canada has agreed to take full control of ABA Bank in Cambodia, executives said on a conference call on Wednesday.

National Bank has purchased the 10% of ABA Bank it does not already own, and is awaiting regulatory approval from Cambodia’s central bank, expected in the next few weeks, executives said on the call.

The stake was held by Damir Karassayev, the former head of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

PS No other information given in Reuters story. https://ca.reuters.com/article/business ... I28W-OCABS

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:57 am
The stake was held by Damir Karassayev, the former head of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

PS No other information given in Reuters story. https://ca.reuters.com/article/business ... I28W-OCABS

Thanks for the interesting factoid.. definitely interesting. If there are not a lot of bad loans out there, nbc will have a big footprint.. then again, the cost of acquiring is nothing compared to buying a Western bank... Hhehee the CEO of nbc is probably paid more annually haha

National Bank increases its stake to 100% in Cambodia-based ABA Bank
News provided by National Bank of Canada
Oct 02, 2019, 06:30 ET

MONTREAL, Oct. 2, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - National Bank announced an additional investment of USD 63 million (CAD 83.5 million) in the Cambodia-based ABA Bank (Advanced Bank of Asia Limited), increasing its stake to 100%. Founded in 1996, ABA Bank is one of Cambodia's leading financial institutions. It has assets of almost USD 4 billion (CAD 5.3 billion).

"National Bank is proud of ABA Bank's success. This financial institution is well established in its market, and plays a key role in the country's social and economic development," said Louis Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer of National Bank. "ABA Bank is growing rapidly and contributes to making banking services even more accessible. Its business model, focused mainly on banking services for individuals and small businesses, has promising future prospects."

National Bank became a shareholder of ABA Bank in 2014 with an initial 10% interest. It made additional investments to bring its stake up to 42% in 2015 and to 90% in 2016. National Bank's investment in ABA Bank now totals USD 320 million (CAD 424 million).

Since National Bank's initial investment, ABA Bank has grown substantially and its market share has more than doubled. The number of employees jumped from 600 to more than 5,000; the number of branches from 12 to 70 and the number of clients from 60,000 to 600,000.

During the first nine months of fiscal 2019, the additional 10% stake acquired in ABA Bank would have increased National Bank's diluted earnings per share by $0.03. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, the transaction will have a negligible impact on common equity Tier 1 capital ratio according to Basel III.

Since 2014, the profitability on National Bank's investment in ABA Bank has increased more than tenfold and return on equity is approximately 30%.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/n ... 85055.html

The cash deposit machines have been out of service and they require filling out a form with source of funds to do it through the clerks. I hope it’s not going to last.

I think we'll see more of this with the other banks also. Being on the money laundering gray list is not a place Cambodia wants to be.

It felt so ridiculous. I was depositing some petty amount and they were guiding me through the form field by field and tapped the “Source of income” field with the pen giving me an extra “Sir?”.

Next to me was a Chinese gentleman pulling large stacks of $100 bills from a backpack full of cash. I wonder what he wrote on the form.

Not an endorsement, but for your information:



Best Domestic Bank, Best Digital Bank, Best Bank for Microfinance ABA Bank
ABA Bank: The Cambodian banking industry is saturated with names, but only a few sit in the top ranks, commanding most of the market. ABA Bank is the best among this group, boasting a strong foreign backer, an expanding reach and a digital dominance unparalleled in the sector.

The bank’s financials are impressive, particularly a 65% year-on-year growth in total assets in 2018. After trebling its assets over the last three years, it is the country’s third-largest bank. It nearly doubled its deposits and loan portfolio and reported a $71.8 million net profit for 2018, up 55% year on year.
It was also able to achieve a 28% return on equity, the best among Cambodia’s 43 commercial banks. At the time of writing, ABA had $4.1 billion in assets, deposits of $3.3 billion and a $2.5 billion loan book.

While ABA is a domestic bank, it has a strong foreign influence. Its senior managers are largely from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, including Kazakh chief executive Askhat Azhikhanov. This is a legacy from when a group of central Asian bankers took over in 2009. It was a one-branch bank at the time.

The bank has since been bought by the National Bank of Canada, which completed its full acquisition in October 2019. ABA has pursued rapid expansion, opening 15 new branches in 2018. That takes its total to 70, with 24 in Phnom Penh and 46 in the provinces. It has also extended business hours at its branches in Phnom Penh. Its 4,200-plus staff served 426,000 customers, almost double the customer base in 2017.
When it comes to lending, the bank’s customer base reflects Cambodia’s SME and micro-business dominated economy. ABA’s central Asian leadership eschewed consumer lending from the start. The bank has stuck to that, focusing instead on providing loans to businesses contributing to the real economy. As a result, its loan portfolio is more than 90% SMEs, covering a diverse mix of industries, from manufacturing to agriculture and trade to services.
By client segment, the loan book is mainly micro-businesses. It serves the micro sector with specific products including its ‘Simple Loan’, of between $1,000 and $30,000 or the equivalent in riel, which is aimed at owners taking out a loan for the first time or those looking to refinance debt from a different lender. Approvals are made within a day.
ABA embraces digitalization more than any of its local peers. Digital banking is a leading part of its business and is based on its ABA Mobile app. Its e-cash feature, which enables card-less ATM withdrawals, was used 370,000 times in 2018. Other features include ABA Pay, for QR code and cashless payments, and e-commerce payments service PayWay.
The bank is also targeting small business owners, with new digital services for invoices. ABA developed its mobile app in-house and builds products for the platform, but unlike many peers it has opened the app to other financial technology service providers. ABA continues to add its own features, recently adding a service for international money transfers, as well as a mobile loan feature, while it is also partnering with global payments platforms AliPay and UnionPay to enhance its QR-based payments system.
It has also launched a new corporate internet banking platform for its large international clients such as Coca-Cola and Manulife. ABA is looking next at monetizing the vast amount of data it collects.
In the first nine months of 2019 alone, the bank’s mobile app recorded 30 million transactions amounting to $24 billion. The bank’s leading position in digital and mobile banking and strong growth across its businesses won it a positive outlook this year from S&P Global Ratings, which gives the bank a single B credit rating.

Full article: https://www.euromoney.com/article/b1hx2 ... tInfo=true
Visit http://www.euromoney.com/reprints for additional distribution rights. For more articles like this, follow us @euromoney on Twitter.

I believe National Bank of Canada is the 6th largest commercial and investment Bank. It is NOT the national bank of Canada, which is called Bank of Canada.

In honor of canada pulling. President Trump's cameo out of HOME ALONE 2 on their tv network..I will pass.
My Canadia bank only made me fill out paperwork on deposits over $1,000us.
Good to know. I was thinking of opening an aba account.

BR549 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:49 pm In honor of canada pulling. President Trump's cameo out of HOME ALONE 2 on their tv network..I will pass.

Oh god, another Trump pussy.

Quite a lot of them around despite them trying (trying only, btw) to convince real people of the opposite...