Marginal drop in credit applications

01 Feb 2019 2055 | Business & Trade Fairs

Loan applications decreased slightly during the last quarter of 2018 due to a fall in the number of applications for personal loans that could not be offset by a higher number of credit card loan applications, according to the Credit Bureau of Cambodia.

According to CBC’s Consumer Credit Index Q4, consumer credit applications decreased marginally by 0.27 percent. While personal finance loan applications decreased by 0.13 percent, credit card applications increased by 19 percent, CBC noted.

By the end of 2018, the total number of consumer loan accounts reached 1.08 million. Of this, over 81 percent were personal finance loans, while just 11.58 percent belonged to mortgage loans and about 7.33 percent to credit card loans.

Oeur Sothearoath, CEO of CBC, explained that by the end of 2018 consumer balance increased by 37 percent to reach $6.24 billion.

“Though consumer credit applications slightly dropped by 0.27 percent compared to the previous quarter, total credit applications in 2018 saw an increase of 35 percent compared to 2017,” Mr Sothearoath said.