ABA Bank, a member of the National Bank of Canada Group, plans to open another 11 branches nationwide in response to the rising number of customers.

Mey Polin, ABA business development manager, unveiled the expansion plans yesterday.

“Our business is growing more than 30 percent a year so we are expanding to give our customers a better and more convenient service.

“Second, Cambodia is growing at more than 7 percent per annum which creates more opportunities for our bank to increase its customer base,” he said, adding that, by the end of 2018, the bank had 64 branches nationwide, about 20 of them in Phnom Penh.

“This year we plan to open about 11 branches in Phnom Penh and in the provinces to handle an increase in the number of customers. Our customer base is growing exponentially, faster than what our current infrastructure can handle, so we need to expand,” he added.

In 2014, the National Bank of Canada acquired 10 percent of ABA Bank’s shares. It became a majority shareholder in 2017 with a 90 percent stake.

As of Jan 30, 2019, ABA’s total assets equal $2.81 billion, making it the third largest bank in Cambodia.

Ending last year, the bank had 426,000 customers and its outstanding loan portfolio reached $1.83 billion, an increase of about 49 percent year-on-year. At the end of 2018, deposits were worth $2.18 billion.

Last year, Standard & Poor’s revised the outlook on ABA to positive from negative, giving ‘B’ long-term and short-term issuer credit ratings.

The outlook revision on ABA reflects the bank’s improving business franchise, underpinned by significant growth in its market share, S&P said.