Chea Serey, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has called on the customers of Prince Banks and Panda Commercial Bank to give the appointed administrators of the two banks time to resolve current issues. She noted that due to the complexity of the process, it may take some time to allocate the banks’ assets to depositors.
“All depositors have equal priority; no one has a higher priority any other. Refunding deposits involves several steps and depends on the ability of the liquidator to transforming assets into monetary value.
“Therefore, to the customers of Prince and Panda banks, I call on you for understanding. Please give the liquidator time to work effectively. The NBC is working with the liquidators to expedite the process and enable the customers to get their deposits back as soon as possible,” Serey said, in a video clip posted on NBC social media this afternoon, March 18.
Panda Commercial Bank Plc was the second bank in the Kingdom to have its license revoked by the NBC this year, following the closure of Prince Bank Plc.
Prince Bank founder Chen Zhi was arrested for his alleged involvement in a vast online scam empire, while Panda’s license was revoked due to “financial problems”.
Morisonkak MKA Audit-Accounting Co., Ltd has been appointed temporary administrator and liquidator of both banks.
In recent days, APD bank has seen long queues as panicked customers attempted to withdraw funds after the bank declared it would suspend services due to “system maintenance”.
The Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC) and the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) subsequently called for the public to disregard rumours or unverified social media content which suggested that several banks in Cambodia are facing cash shortages. In a joint statement, they noted that the Kingdom’s financial sector remains resilient, liquid and is subject to close supervision by the NBC.
