Microfinance Focus, August 29, 2011: PRASAC, Cambodia’s national Microfinance Institution (MFI) and MARUHAN Japan Bank, Cambodia’s only Japanese-owned commercial bank announced a business alliance. This business alliance aims to work on the core competencies of both institutions in order to successfully deliver financial services to the rural communities in Cambodia.

PRASAC a former credit component, funded by the European Union, was implemented with the support of the Royal Government of Cambodia. To ensure access to financial services for rural communities and micro-enterprises, PRASAC’s Project Steering Committee made a strategic decision to transform its credit component into a licensed MFI. In March 2002, the transformation was started by creating PRASAC Credit Association as credit operator registered with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).

MARUHAN Japan Bank has been operating since 2008 providing employment to over 12,670 people across Asia. In the July 2010 issue of the Fortune Global 500 magazine, MARUHAN Group ranked 51 among the top largest corporations in Japan and 376th among the largest corporations world wide in terms of revenue.

PRASAC operates throughout Cambodia and focuses on serving rural communities and SMEs. MARUHAN Japan Bank was formed with the aim of establishing strong bilateral ties between Cambodia and Japan. Through its financial services, it aims to contribute to the growth and development of Cambodia.

Mr. Sim Senacheert, President and CEO of PRASAC says, “ Partnering with MARUHAN Japan Bank, for instance, can provide us with a portal to a global network, giving us access to financing locally instead of having to rely, as most of our counterparts do, on offshore funding. This initiative will also strengthen, and build trust within, the local market. The partnership will allow us to be significantly more flexible and responsive to the needs of our customers than our competitors are…We selected MARUHAN Japan Bank as our partner of choice for this alliance because they share PRASAC’s commitment to only the highest professional and moral standards, total transparency and good governance”.

Mr Onishi Shizuo, General Manager of MARUHAN Japan Bank comments, “ In turn, MARUHAN Japan Bank benefits by being able to offer its customers the wealth of experience in delivering financial services to rural communities that PRASAC is well known for, and is able to tap into the infrastructure they have built to do this. Having these national networks in place will make MARUHAN Japan bank even more attractive to regional partners than it has proved to be already.”