The Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia has signed an agreement to open its offices on floors 25 and 26 of Cambodia’s tallest building, Canadia Tower, and is expected to move in early next month, officials said yesterday.
Government officials had said last year that Cambodia’s bourse, which is currently slated to launch in July 2011, would open at the satellite city Camko City in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district, but those plans have not materialized.
Hong Sok Hour, general secretary of the SECC, said the Finance Ministry signed an agreement with Canadia Tower in early December that would see the SECC offices move from the ministry to Canadia Tower.
“We will start operations within a few weeks,” he said, adding that it was still unclear just how long the stock market would be located inside Canadia Tower and when exactly the stock market would begin listing companies.
“It depends on the progress of all parties related. It depends on the securities firms’ work and it depends on the listed companies, and it depends on the stock exchange work as well,” he said.
Mr Sok Hour said the Ministry of Finance had chosen the location of the stock market and referred questions on whether the bourse would ever move to Camko City to the ministry.
Mey Vann, director of the financial industry department at the ministry, referred questions about the bourse’s location back to Mr Sok Hour.
Last year the Finance Ministry announced that it had signed an agreement with South Korean’s World City, the owner of Camko City, for the construction of a $6 million stock market complex to be completed by the end of this year.
Kheng Ser, the assistant to Camko City’s marketing manager, said officials were not available for comment but that he was unaware that construction had started on the project.
In-pyo Lee, project director for the Korea Exchange, which has a 45 percent stake in the stock market with the government, said Canadia Tower would only serve as the location of the bourse for the first several years of its operations.
“For the beginning period, it’s better than Camko City. It is easy to get to,” he said, adding that Canadia is also close to several other banks, and is highly visible.
Dieter Billmeier, vice president of Canadia Bank, said he expected the arrangement to help both parties by placing the bourse in the country’s tallest building and the country’s stock exchange in Canadia Bank.
“It is a win-win situation for both,” he said.
