Cambodia launches code of banking practices

　　PHNOM PENH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The National Bank of Cambodia ( NBC), which is the regulator of the banking and finance industry, promulgated the Code of Banking Practices on Monday with an aim of further building confidence of the public in the industry, officials said.

　　NBC's Governor Chea Chanto, along with Pung Kheav Se, chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC), and Bun Money, president of the Cambodian Microfinance Association, jointly launched the Code.

　　"The Code reflects the protection mechanism for financial service users," said Chanto. "It provides rights for financial service users to complain banks or financial institutions on their services that they don't like."

　　"I hope that the Code will protect the consumers, improve consistency in banking operations, enhance transparency, develop better and more neutral relationship between customers and financial institutions and increase public confidence," he said.

　　Under the Code, financial service users have rights to sue to a dispute resolution committee which comprises one representative each from NBC, ABC, and an independent body, he added.

　　According to a statement released at the event, the Code aims to promote good banking practices by setting standards for financial institutions to follow, by increasing transparency in banking, and by fostering confidence in the banking system.

　　"This Code is the culmination of two years of hard work by the members of the ABC and the NBC," said Pung Kheav Se.

　　The Code covers all aspects of a bank's relationship with its customers, from straightforward account operations to calculating interest rates on loans or credit cards, the statement said.

　　Cambodia's banking and finance industry consists of 36 commercial banks, 11 specialized banks, and 38 microfinance institutions, according to NBC.

　　The sector had received a total deposit of 11.6 billion U.S. dollars from 3.3 million depositors by last year, as it had lent 10.8 billion U.S. dollars to 2.2 million customers, said NBC.