Insurance and real estate operators have expressed their interest in listing on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) director-general Sou Socheat said on Tuesday.

He told The Post that some of the companies in the two key sectors are in their initial planning and preparation stages to list corporate bonds and stocks on the CSX.

“We are working with the insurance and real estate companies. Given how early in their preparation stages they are, we are unable to say at this time whether they will be ready by the end of the year or next year,” said Socheat, without naming the companies.

CSX vice-chairman Ha Jong-weon also confirmed that there are several companies in the listing pipeline. They are working with their initial public offering teams comprising an underwriter, an accounting firm and a legal firm.

“Some of them will submit documents to the CSX for review soon. Some plan to list by this year and others to list early next year,” he said, without disclosing further details

The CSX welcomed its first domestically listed company, the state-owned utility Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PWSA), on April 18, 2012.

As of the end of the first half of the year, the market has 12 listed firms – six bond-listed companies and six stock-listed companies.

The listed firms have raised $223 million in trading. Market capitalisation increased 58 per cent from $442 million in 2018 to around $701 million last year. Trading volume increased nearly six-fold from $26,000 in 2018 to around $150,000 last year.

As of last year, there were five central counterparties in the derivatives market, 27 derivatives brokers, five fund management companies and five trustees licensed by the SECC.