Real estate financier Oxley Worldbridge Specialized Bank officially launched operations in Cambodia yesterday.

Despite being the 11th entrant into Cambodia’s specialised banking market, the owners of the Kingdom’s newest bank are confident there is room in the industry for financial institutions catering for the property sector.

“Our plan is to help small and medium enterprises and also to help home buyers to own a home by giving loans with competitive rates,” Ching Chiat Kwong, chairman of Oxley Worldbridge Specialized Bank said yesterday.

“I think by comparing us to rival banks or competitors, we will be very competitive,” the chairman added.

With a start-up capital of $30 million, the new financial institution has been established jointly by the owners of Oxley Worldbridge (Cambodia) – a locally- based property management company – and Singaporean-owned Oxley Holdings Limited and Worldbridge Land (Cambodia).

The specialised bank aims to gain new clients from its existing property management business, Oxley-Worldbridge officials said yesterday at the launch.

Ouk Maly, deputy governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, welcomed the latest entrant to the market yesterday, a move she said reflected confidence in Cambodia’s banking sector.

“Cambodia’s banking system continues to grow in both scope and scale by focusing on the customer base, new financial products and modern technology,” she said at the launch event in Phnom Penh yesterday.