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Prince Bank’s mobile app has quietly disappeared from the Apple App Store, shortly after the U.S. and the U.K. sanctioned its parent company, Prince Holding Group, for alleged transnational criminal activities — a move that effectively cuts the conglomerate off from U.S. companies and citizens, and exposes others to potential sanctions for doing business with it.
Earlier, following the imposition of the sanctions last week, the mobile app was temporarily offline, which the bank attributed to third-party service interruptions. The outage sparked widespread concern among users who were unable to access their accounts, with some reporting failed transfers, where funds were deducted but not received by destination banks. However, transactions are now functioning normally.
After the sanctions targeted 146 entities linked to Prince Holding, questions have emerged whether Apple removed the app from its store to avoid breaching U.S. sanctions.
Nathan Paul Southern, operations director of the EyeWitness Project, told CamboJA News that hosting an app of a sanctioned entity is fundamentally flawed.
“An app representing a sanctioned institution must be treated as an extension of that entity,” he said.
“It is indefensible for any company to continue hosting platforms linked to the Prince Group after the egregious crimes they have been implicated in,” Southern remarked, noting that evidence of the group’s alleged crimes was “already public and platforms have no excuse to continue hosting it”.
He opined that Apple’s removal of the app could make it harder for customers to withdraw funds from their bank accounts. However, he emphasized that this is neither Apple’s legal responsibility nor a moral reason to continue operations, and all ties with Prince should be severed immediately.
“Customers must be made aware that this situation arises not because of an app being removed, but because the institution they are banking with is an internationally sanctioned criminal enterprise” he added.
Meanwhile, he said the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) may have a duty to protect customer deposits, but any actions aimed at shielding Prince Bank would be morally indefensible and could violate international sanctions.
“Cambodian authorities should instead seize the assets of senior Prince executives, including Chen Zhi, to protect affected customers and provide restitution to the many victims of this criminal enterprise.”
Prince Bank did not respond to questions about the reasons behind the app’s removal from the App Store or how the issue would be resolved.
Mean, a Prince Bank customer, who initially had trouble transferring money after the sanctions were announced, told CamboJA News that his transaction was later completed and that he continues to use the bank without concern. He said he had chosen Prince Bank because it offered high interest rates.
Another account holder, Sok Hong, said he has been with the bank for about three years and still has a “little money” deposited there. However, he has stopped using the mobile app since the sanctions were imposed, expressing mild concern about the safety of his personal information but unsure what action to take.
One user, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons, said she moved all her savings to another bank immediately after learning about the sanctions because she was worried about the safety of her money. Although the Prince Bank app is functioning normally, she said she has no intention of using it again.
“As a user, we’ve lost trust in the bank and don’t want our money to be linked to criminals,” she said.
Prince Bank’s Clever Savings product reportedly offers an annual interest rate of 4.25%, along with free personal accident insurance and medical coverage — significantly higher than the roughly 2% per year offered by most other banks.
Last week, Prince Bank announced that its board is conducting a legal review and exploring options for delisting from the sanctions.
The NBC did not respond to CamboJA News, but said in a Facebook post last week that authorities are “carefully monitoring and investigating” to ensure Prince Bank complies with Cambodian laws. Necessary measures are being taken to ensure normal operations and protect customer funds, it added.
Meanwhile, Prince Bank announced on Thursday that Looi Kok Soon had resigned as Non-Independent Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective October 22, to pursue personal interests.
