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More than two months after the liquidation of Prince Bank, customers began receiving full refunds of their deposits on Monday, following the appointment of accounting firm Morisonkak MKA to oversee the winding-up process and convert the bank’s assets into cash.
Prince Bank customers have been seen at the head office since early morning after last week’s announcement by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) that depositors could withdraw their funds from March 23 onwards.
The bank was placed into liquidation and its services suspended on January 8 shortly after its parent company chairman, Chen Zhi, was arrested on January 6 in a joint Cambodian-Chinese operation over alleged fraud and money laundering linked to online scam activities.
Prince Bank, along with Chen and 146 entities under the Prince Group, had also been sanctioned by the United States and United Kingdom in October.
One customer traveled hundreds of kilometers from Ratanakiri, a northeast province, to the bank’s head office in Phnom Penh on Monday to withdraw her $5,000 deposit, expressing relief of retrieving her funds after having no access for more than two months.
“I am happy to get my money back because I worked hard for it,” said Meng Sokha, who owns a currency exchange business. She has been banking with Prince Bank for six years.
Around 50 to 60 people queued up on Monday to withdraw their money. However, Sokha told CamboJA News that some customers were still unable to access their funds because they failed to submit the required documents between January 13 and February 13.
On Tuesday, CamboJA News noticed only a few customers at the bank, some withdrawing their funds, while others were closing their accounts.
To facilitate repayments to customers, Morisonkak MKA, appointed by the NBC as the liquidator of Prince Bank, has been converting the bank’s assets into cash. The firm did not respond to questions from CamboJA News regarding which assets are being converted or those within its supervision.
A senior government official in the anti-scam commission confirmed that Chen’s assets had been frozen, including his real estate properties and a myriad of businesses in the country.
NBC’s announcement on payouts to Prince Bank depositors spurred Huione Pay (now known as H-Pay) and Panda Bank customers to call for immediate support from the central bank to facilitate withdrawals of their funds. They said any delay in fund withdrawal is affecting their life.
In response, NBC sought customers’ understanding, saying that the liquidators need time to convert the asset to cash for customers. However, they are working with the liquidators to expedite the process to ensure customers receive their money quickly.
Last December, H-Pay suspended withdrawals due to “changes in the external market environment”, which led to a “sudden run on funds” by millions of users. Meanwhile, Panda Bank’s license was revoked and its liquidation approved late February as a result of deteriorating financial condition, with authorities stating it was no longer capable of providing banking services.
Following the collapse of Prince Bank, Huione Pay, and Panda Bank, and the sudden temporary suspension of Asian-Pacific Development (APD) Bank’s services and limits on transfers, hundreds of customers rushed to the banks to withdraw their funds.
Despite the current banking circumstances, NBC stressed that the banking system “remains strong”.
Note: This story has been updated to remove a reference to Panda Bank as a former online banking division of Huione Group.
