NBC launches test of mechanism to link major banks
The National Bank of Cambodia officially launched last Friday a test of its central shared switch (CSS) mechanism, which connects account records of three of the Kingdom’s leading financial institutions, allowing them to operate ATM and point-of-sale (POS) terminals in tandem. The participating financial institutions include Acleda Bank, Sathapana Bank and Prasac Microfinance, which together have a combined network of nearly 500 ATMs across the Kingdom with over 900,000 debit and credit cards issued. Meanwhile, all commercial banks and microfinance deposit-taking institutions will be required to have system in place by January of 2018, the NBC said in its release. According to the announcement, the CSS allows for various types of transactions including the payment of goods and services, cash withdrawal, inter-bank fund transfer and balance inquiry. (Source: Phnom Penh Post)