“I’m Financially Literate Program” was successfully launched by Sathapana Bank, in partnership with Khmer Enterprise, Manulife Cambodia, and Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC). The second cohort of this program was organized on 08 & 09 and 15 & 16 October 2022 to provide non-financial services to SMEs and MSMEs and especially women in business.
More than 30 Entrepreneurs and business owners attended the second cohort, and shared their experiences as well as related financial issues, and they also had the opportunity to learn more about entrepreneurship, prepare financial statements for Business, understand loans with banks and choose the right loan for their businesses.
This training program is specifically designed to provide practical skills and experience related to financial literacy and business management skills, as well as access to business networks that can drive business growth for entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs.
CGCC supports the accelerating SMEs’ Financial Literacy through the “I’m Financially Literate Program” second cohort
On 17 September 2022, CGCC and Maybank Cambodia co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme” at Maybank Tower, participated by more than 50 SME entrepreneurs to provide business support instruments and technical advisory based on international best practices to support SME growth, productivity and innovation, as well as enhance competitiveness for SMEs.
Mr. No Lida, Deputy CEO of CGCC, remarks on the importance of this program for SMEs beyond the cooperation between CGCC and Maybank Cambodia, and Mr. Duk Sarak, Head of Community Financial Services of Maybank Cambodia, relayed the opening remark for the event. SME participants had the opportunity to learn about the topic of “Business Registration in Cambodia” from SokSiphana & Associates, “The Importance of Financial Discipline for SMEs” from Acclime Cambodia, “Access to Finance and Guarantee Scheme” from Maybank Cambodia.
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
Upon the collaboration on providing loans with credit guarantee, on November 2021, CGCC and Maybank Cambodia also co-organized the Business Forum on “Supporting SME Businesses in Cambodia” to discuss more details about the possibility of collaboration on how to support SMEs for greater access to finance despite collateral issue and the support of SME’s capacity Building and long-term growth.
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
“I’m Financially Literate Program” was successfully launched by Sathapana Bank, Co-sponsored by Khmer Enterprise, Manulife Cambodia, and Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC). The first cohort of this program was organized on 03 & 04 and 10 & 11 September 2022 to provide non-financial services to SMEs and MSMEs and especially women in business.
More than 30 Entrepreneurs and business owners attended the first cohort, and shared their experiences as well as related financial issues, and they also had the opportunity to learn more about entrepreneurship, prepare financial statements for Business, understand loans with banks and choose the right loan for their businesses.
This training program is specifically designed to provide practical skills and experience related to financial literacy and business management skills, as well as access to business networks that can drive business growth for entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs.
CGCC supports the accelerating SMEs’ Financial Literacy through the “I’m Financially Literate Program” first cohortCGCC supports the accelerating SMEs’ Financial Literacy through the “I’m Financially Literate Program” first cohort
From 29 August to 02 September 2022, CGCC team led by Mr. No Lida, Deputy CEO of CGCC, visited provincial branches of selected participating financial institutions (PFIs) to discuss with the management and staff of the selected PFIs the implementation of CGCC’s credit guarantee schemes. The selected PFIs in 3 provinces including Kampong Speu province: Canadia Bank and AMK Microfinance Institution; Preah Sihanouk province: ABA Bank, LOLC Microfinance Institution, Sathapana Bank, Canadia Bank, AMK, and Acleda; and Kampot Province: ABA Bank, Acleda Bank, AMK, and LOLC.
The discussions with CGCC PFIs’ provincial branches in these 3 potential provinces provided opportunities for both CGCC and PFIs to enhance mutual understanding of credit guarantees and opportunities for PFIs to increase lending to borrowers that lack collateral when requesting loans, especially where the provinces are the potentials in tourism sector, CGCC got the chance to bring awareness of the newly launched scheme, Co-Financing Guarantee Scheme for Tourism Sector, to enhance the support for businesses in tourism sector in getting guaranteed loans from CGCC’s PFIs.
Through these face-to-face discussions with more than hundreds of PFIs’ provincial managements and staffs, CGCC had such a great opportunity to learn directly about the implementation of credit guarantees by these selected PFIs provincial branches as well as their comments and feedback on CGCC’s credit guarantee schemes. CGCC and PFIs will continue to strengthen cooperation in providing guaranteed loans to business owners.
On 01 September 2022, Ministry of Economy and Finance and CGCC organized a Dissemination Seminar on “Guaranteed Loans to support SMEs Development in Tourism Sector” in Kampot Province, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, through the provincial department of tourism, and SME bank, which was participated by more than 50 business owners in the tourism sector.
This seminar was presided by Mrs. Chin Sopheakla, Deputy Director of Kampot Provincial Department of Tourism, Mr. No Lida, Deputy CEO of CGCC, and Mr. Neav Sokun, Chief Operation Officer of SME Bank.
Dissemination Seminar on “Guaranteed Loans to support SMEs Development in Tourism Sector”
Through this workshop, SMEs in the tourism sector, including resorts, hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, etc., were informed about the benefits of getting guaranteed loans, in response to the lack of collateral when applying for loans for the purpose of improving and recovering their business that are impacted by COVID-19 pandemic.
SMEs also learned about government’s financial supporting mechanisms on favorable loans conditions such as low-interest rate through SME Bank and guaranteed without collateral by CGCC.SMEs can request for guaranteed loans for their tourism related businesses through CGCC’s “Co-Financing Guarantee Scheme for Tourism Sector” that act as collaterals for business loans in the tourism sector through “Tourism Recovery Co-financing Scheme” of SME Bank.
Dissemination Seminar on “Guaranteed Loans to support SMEs Development in Tourism Sector”Dissemination Seminar on “Guaranteed Loans to support SMEs Development in Tourism Sector”
Phnom Penh, 18 August 2022:Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) co-organized a “Conference on Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia” presided over by H.E. Ros Seilava, Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Chairman of CGCC, and H.E. Dr. Chea Serey, Assistant Governor and Director General of Central Banking, National Bank of Cambodia, with the participation of representatives from the Government, development partners, financial institutions, business associations, and business owners, especially SMEs, of more than 100 participants. The Conference aims to discuss using credit guarantees to strengthen SME’s financial inclusion, raise awareness of credit guarantees, and share experiences and lessons learned from guaranteed loan disbursements.
Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”
H.E. Ros Seilava, Secretary of State, highly appreciated today’s Conference, which is an important forum to raise awareness of the credit guarantees through the discussion and experience sharing among related stakeholders. H.E. Secretary of State said, “The Government launched the public credit guarantee scheme by establishing CGCC more than one year ago. As of July 2022, CGCC has supported the disbursement of about $57 million new loans with credit guarantees to businesses that lack collateral through the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs). Even though this $57 million is a small amount, it is the starting of new lending practices that do not rely on collateral in Cambodia’s credit market.”
Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”
H.E. Dr. Chea Serey mentioned in her keynote address the contribution of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) as the regulator who plays a critical role in supervising the banking sector. H.E. Dr. Chea Serey said, “Understanding the importance of SMEs in the economy and their challenges in access to finance to the banking and financial institutions, the Government decided to establish the credit guarantees to support SMEs that lack collateral. CGCC’s credit guarantee is a good policy tool; however, SMEs should not remain laissez-faire. SMEs shall continue to improve their capacity, i.e., by leveraging technology.”
Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”
Mr. Wong Keet Loong, Chief Executive Officer of CGCC, expressed his gratitude to the Royal Government of Cambodia, who, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, has always provided strategic guidance to CGCC to expand the credit guarantees to support the Government’s financing policy. Mr. Wong said, “As of the start of Q3 2022, CGCC has expanded its guaranteed coverages to all over the country, even in the remote provinces, thanks to the vast branch networks of CGCC’s PFIs across the country. However, more still needs to be done to improve financial inclusion for different groups of businesses in other parts of the country.”
Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”
During the conference, the representatives from CGCC’s PFIs, Canadia Bank and Sathapana Bank, shared common views on the importance of credit guarantees in supporting banks to disburse more loans to businesses, especially businesses that lack collateral. The banks’ representatives also shared their lending strategies with credit guarantees.
Two SME borrowers were invited to share their practical experiences in access to guaranteed loans with CGCC’s PFIs. Credit guarantees helped both business owners who did not have collateral to get loans for their business’s operations.
Moreover, representatives from relevant stakeholders, including the Government (a representative from the MEF), the regulator (a representative from NBC), the lender (a representative from Maybank Cambodia), the business owners (a representative from the Young Entrepreneurs Associations of Cambodia) and the credit guarantee institution (a representative from CGCC) joined the panel discussion on “Roles of Credit Guarantee in Banking and Business Sector Development.” The panelists discussed the challenges, solutions, and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of using credit guarantees to support business sector development, especially the SMEs, which are the backbone of the economy.
Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”Press Release Conference on “Credit Guarantee Schemes’ Potential to Strengthen SME’s Financial Inclusion in Cambodia”
CGCC provides credit guarantees on business loans disbursed by banks and microfinance institutions to support potential businesses that lack collateral. CGCC serves the Government’s policy to improve financial inclusion and develop SMEs in Cambodia. For more information, please contact CGCC via 023 722 123 or 016 242 033 or visit CGCC at www.cgcc.com.kh. Thank you.
The scheme is specifically targeted at tourism-related businesses. It provides a higher guarantee cover of 80 percent of the loan amount with a nominal guarantee fee of one percent per annum, says Wong Keet Loong, CEO of CGCC.
Business owners in the tourism sector who lack collateral can apply for a loan with a credit guarantee from a financial institution that is a partner of the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC), according to the Ministry of Tourism.
According to an announcement from the Ministry of Tourism, CGCC launched the Co-Financing Guarantee Scheme for Tourism on 12 July to support the rehabilitation and growth of the country’s tourism sector.
The scheme is a credit guarantee, providing collateral for 80 percent of the loan from banks and financial institutions.
In case the tourism business owner lacks collateral to secure a loan in the co-financing project, they can apply with a loan guarantee from a financial institution that is a partner of CGCC.
The CGCC launched the scheme after receiving approval from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Wong Keet Loong, CEO of CGCC, told Khmer Times that the scheme is specifically targeted at tourism-related businesses. “It provides a higher guarantee cover of 80 percent of the loan amount with a nominal guarantee fee of one percent per annum. The scheme is mainly for loans disbursed under the Tourism Recovery Co-Financing Scheme (TRCS) of the SME Bank of Cambodia,” he said.
Loong explained that under CGCC’s current scheme, the Business Recovery Guarantee Scheme (BRGS), tourism is classified as a priority sector. It has guaranteed 15 tourism-related businesses with a loan amount of $1.78 million.
“The scheme was recently launched to complement the SME Bank’s Tourism Recovery Co-Financing Scheme (TRCS). TRCS provides low borrowing costs whilst the CFGS-TR provides credit guarantees as collateral for the loans. Business owners can obtain loans at low-interest rates without providing physical collateral,” he pointed out.
CGCC’s existing schemes also cover the tourism sector should PFI use its own source of funding and require higher loan amounts to be guaranteed. He said most businesses in this sector that have been impacted by the pandemic have either scaled down or shut down temporarily.
“To recover their business, they would need funding for renovation or refurbishments. When requesting loans from banks, they are required to pledge their collaterals. The requirements for collateral have become more stringent as FIs are more risk-averse toward the sector,” Loong said.
CGCC guarantees 80 percent of the loan and it shares the risk with the financial institution, enabling the borrower to borrow without having to pledge additional collateral. “Furthermore, the guarantee will give added confidence to the financial institution to lend to this sector,” he added.
Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) is organizing a virtual seminar on “Credit Guarantee – Benefits & Opportunities to Support Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Development” today with support from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The seminar brings together relevant stakeholders including the Government, Development Partners, Financial Institutions, and business representatives to discuss the benefits and opportunities of using credit guarantees to support business survival and expansion.
The extent to which credit guarantees can contribute to restoring the economy depends on the lenders’ and borrowers’ perspectives toward credit guarantees. The seminar, therefore, focuses the discussion on their perspectives toward credit guarantees. All speakers shared a common view that lack of collateral is one of the main challenges for businesses to access formal loans. They agreed that credit guarantees can support banks and Micro-Finance Institution (MFIs) to lend out more to businesses, especially those who lack collateral.
The seminar also digs into stakeholders’ ongoing efforts to improve SME access to finance for the economic re-opening in Cambodia. The Government has introduced many policy interventions to support SME access to finance. In addition, relevant stakeholders have spared efforts which include, among others, increasing financial literacy, introducing innovative financial solutions, and upgrading financial sector infrastructure. The panelists demonstrated their commitment to continue supporting SMEs’ access to financial services.
CGCC is a state-owned enterprise under the financial and technical guidance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. CGCC’s mission is to provide credit guarantees to lenders on loans made to businesses. As of 10 December 2021, CGCC has provided guarantees for 173 loans with a total amount of over USD 20 million.
