ACLEDA Bank eyes larger than expected deposits, loans

ACLEDA Bank eyes larger than expected deposits, loans

ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd expects loan and deposit accounts to exceed this year's target, due to a sharp increase in service expansion and the number of customers.

The bank's CEO and Managing Director, Mr Narin Phon, said in an interview at a Pi Mai Lao ceremony on Saturday that the bank had planned to disburse loans of about 920 billion kip (US$115 million) by the end of the year.

“So far we have already loaned about 600 billion kip (US$75 million),” Mr Narin said.

For deposit accounts, the bank had targeted about 680 billion kip (US$85 million), “but we have already reached 496 billion kip (US$62 million),” he said.

He added that he felt certain that this year's outcome would be much larger than expected. Most of the bank's customers are family run small to medium d businesses, he said, and most operate outside the city in rural areas.

The bank also reported that its loans and deposits exceeded initial expectations for 2012. Its plan was to disburse loans worth about 456 billion kip (US$57 million) last year, and for deposits to reach about 368 billion kip (US$46 million).

Loans reached 532 billion kip (US$66.5 million) by the end of last year. Deposits also exceeded expectations and rose to about 420 billion kip (US$52.5 million).

The bank now has 632 employees working at 31 service offices in Vientiane and the provinces. “We plan to have 894 staff by the end of this year. Currently we are training about 40 people as new staff,” he said.

ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd opened for business in July 2008. It was the first Cambodia-based commercial bank to operate in Laos. Its shareholders comprise ACLEDA Bank Plc (Cambodia), International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) and the Netherlands' Development Finance Company, Triodos-Doen and Triodos Fair Share Fund

vientiane times