ACLEDA Bank is to inaugurate a head office in Kampot today, with bank officials saying it will allow them to tap into a considerable local market for small loans.

The new branch is the 14th standardised branch the lender has set up in Cambodia and Laos, it said, in an attempt to maintain its key branches at a certain level, it said.

Say Soksamnang, senior vice president and head of ACLEDA's Division for Branch Administration, said that since opening its first branch in Kampot province in 1994, the bank had attracted 9,370 active borrowers with US$9 million worth of loans.  

"In the provinces, our loans are very popular for micro- and small-sized business people who use them to enlarge their businesses," he said. "The market for loans there is large."

Presently, ACLEDA Bank has 60 branches throughout the Kingdom with 229 offices, employing more than 6,901 staff.