Stock-listed Acleda Bank Plc posted more than $44 million in net profit from its business operations for the first quarter of this year, an increase of 28.53 per cent over the $34 million logged in the same quarter of 2020.

In a financial statement filed to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on May 10, Acleda – majority-owned by local investors – said the profit growth was “mainly due to an increase in net interest income of 12.47 per cent, equivalent to 45.62 billion riel [$11.4 million], compared to” the first quarter of 2020.

The bank's president and group managing director In Channy told The Post recently that the financial sector remains up and running during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing loans to customers.

“The government has prioritised this sector as a means of boosting economic activity and facilitating the daily living standards of the people in the capital and rural areas.

“Under these circumstances, banks are still in operation to serve customers' needs for financial services during the lockdown period,” he said.

Acleda, the Kingdom's largest locally-owned bank, raised $17.5 million in its initial public offering (IPO) on the CSX in late May 2020.

The bank became the sixth stock-listed firm and the first commercial bank to issue on the bourse with a total of 4.34 million shares for sale – one per cent of its more than 433 million total shares, it said in a previous CSX filing.