Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara said Wednesday he will ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to help depositors who are trying to recover money from banks shut down in December, averting a protest planned for today by disgruntled customers.
Chea Sophara said he also will arrange a meeting between depositors and the National Bank of Cambodia, which closed 11 banks and put another 16 on probation because they failed to meet new banking requirements.
“We are thinking together what we should do,” Chea Sophara said. “I understand the people are so poor and they deposited their money from selling cows and other property. If I was a depositor, I would not agree, and I would burn down those banks.”
The Agriculture and Commercial Bank of Cambodia has prompted the most complaints because it has more depositors than any other bank closed by the central bank. The bank has about 30 clients, ranging from NGOs to trade unions.
The bank’s shareholders apparently have abandoned it. Its closure has prevented some NGOs from paying employees and has forced others to shut down operations.
Seng Phally, chairman of the Depositors’ Rights Protection Committee and executive director of the Cambodian Labor Organization, which has an account at the Agriculture and Commercial Bank, said the committee would postpone a protest that was scheduled for today outside the national bank.
But if the city is unable to find a solution for depositors, Seng Phally said, nearly 200 people will protest next week.
The committee said the national bank must take full responsibility for the closures. It suggested the central bank use the $500,000 Agriculture and Commercial deposited with it as a guarantee, and that Agriculture and Commercial’s assets also be used to pay back depositors.
An independent committee also should be formed to investigate how the national bank manages commercial banks, the depositors’ committee said.
In addition, the committee said, the International Monetary Fund must take responsibility because it pushed the national bank to implement reforms, including raising the capital requirement for banks from $5 million to $13 million. It was that increase that caused the banks to shut their doors.
Last month, the national bank appointed administrators to liquidate the closed banks, but clients still do not know when—or if—they will get their money.
Tal Nay Im, deputy director general of the national bank, said the liquidation process is moving forward, but will take time to be completed.
