The largest bank in Cambodia, Acleda Bank Plc, has extended its mobile banking and payments service to consumers without an existing banking relationship of any kind, according to a press release by global technology provider Fiserv.

Established in 2010, Acleda Unity now reaches untapped consumer segments using the Mobiliti Reach platform from Fiserv, enabling people without an Acleda bank account to have access to banking services.

“We started our mobile journey in 2010 by offering our customers a compelling set of mobile banking, alerting and payment capabilities,” In Channy, president and CEO of Acleda Bank, said in the press release.

“We soon realised that there was significant growth potential for mobile financial services among the many Cambodian consumers who do not have bank accounts.”

The extended version of Acleda Unity, started in July this year but having just been updated, aims at reaching out to people nationwide, In Channy said.

“Currently there are 350,000 workers in the garment industry,” he said.

“Those people want to send money home… to their family in the countryside. So they can use Acleda Unity to send money home via mobile phone.”

Acleda Unity users can transfer money by sending a text message and with a pin code the receiver can either pick up the cash from an ATM or go to a counter to get the money.  

According to Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart Mobile, the number of general mobile phone users and the mobile phone banking business is growing in Cambodia.

He said mobile banking has not yet made such an impact in Cambodia as in Africa, “but in general we see a growing trend to use also mobile phones for banking and Smart is supporting that intensively”.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anne Renzenrbrink at [email protected]