The Bank of the Lao PDR will modernise commercial banks in Laos as the
country speeds up economic integration with the regional and global community.
According to the central bank’s
annual report which was made available to Vientiane Times this week, the bank
will modernise the services provided by commercial banks to enable them to
integrate with international levels and standards.
Laos expects to be accepted as a
member of the World Trade Organisation in October. Laos will also join the
Asean Trade Area (AFTA) in 2015, which will create a single market of more than
600 million people where capital, goods and skilled labour flow freely
throughout the region.
The planned regional and world
economic integration of the Lao economy will not be a challenge if banks in
Laos can provide secure, fast, reliable and safe money transactions, according
to a bank official.
He said the central bank has
spent about US$10 million to install modern banking IT infrastructure that will
play a central role in providing more efficient transactions between commercial
banks and between Lao banks and foreign banks.
The upgraded system will also
enable the Lao Securities Exchange to provide electronic money transfer for
share traders, and facilitate banks to join ATM pools, allowing customers to
withdraw money from a greater number of ATMs, he said.
At present, account holders have
to withdraw cash from one bank and deposit it in another because there is no
electronic transfer system, while commercial banks use electronic transfer
services offered by other countries to provide international credit and debit
card services.
A number of banks in Laos have
welcomed the changes, recognising the need to improve their services as
customers increasingly need to transfer funds within the country, region and
world.
BCEL is one state-owned bank that
has undergone a lot of improvements to its IT systems. Its ATM cardholders can
use their cards to pay electricity bills and withdraw money from Union Pay ATMs
around the world.
The Lao-Viet Bank has also
installed a core banking system to provide better services. The privately owned
Phongsavanh Bank has made provisions for its customers to withdraw money from
ATMs in Thailand so they can shop across the border.
The Bank of the Lao PDR says it
will supervise and monitor commercial banks as they grow in number to ensure
that all financial institutions are healthy and give the Lao public confidence
in the local banking system.
When people have confidence in
banks, they are more likely to open deposit accounts, making it easier for the
country to mobilise investment funding to boost economic growth.
At present, there are 26
commercial banks operating in Laos.
Source: Vientiane Times
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