The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) is Cambodia’s central bank. It describes itself as both the country’s monetary authority and its supervisory authority:
- As the monetary authority, it sets monetary policy aimed at price stability, and it is the sole issuer of the Khmer riel.
- As the supervisory authority, it has the power to license, delicense, regulate and supervise banks and financial institutions.
It also oversees the national payment systems, including Bakong and the KHQR code standard. It runs economic and monetary analysis, compiles the balance of payments, and takes part in managing external debt claims.
| National Bank of Cambodia at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Role | Central bank: monetary and supervisory authority |
| Currency issued | Khmer riel (KHR) |
| Founding law | Law on the Organization and Conduct of the National Bank of Cambodia (1996) |
| Institutions supervised, end 2025 | 59 commercial banks, 7 specialized banks, 4 MDIs, 85 MFIs and more (full list below) |
| Banking system assets, end 2025 | KHR 402.3 trillion (USD 100.2 billion) |
The laws it works under
The NBC lists these laws as applying to banks and financial institutions:
- Law on the Organization and Conduct of the National Bank of Cambodia (1996)
- Law on Foreign Exchange (1997)
- Law on Banking and Financial Institutions (1999)
- Law on Negotiable Instruments and Payment Transactions (2005)
- Law on Commercial Enterprises (2005)
- Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (2007)
- Law on Financial Leasing (2009)
Detailed rules are issued mainly as Prakas (regulations with a reference number and date) and circulars, which the NBC publishes on its website. The NBC notes that its English translations of the laws are unofficial.
Every type of institution the NBC licenses
The NBC’s Annual Supervision Report 2025 gives this count for the end of 2025. It groups institutions by whether they may take deposits from the public.
| Type | Number, end 2025 | Takes deposits? |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial banks | 59 | Yes |
| Microfinance deposit-taking institutions (MDIs) | 4 | Yes |
| Specialized banks | 7 | No |
| Microfinance institutions (MFIs) | 85 | No |
| Financial leasing companies | 12 | No |
| Rural credit institutions | 89 | No |
| Payment service providers | 30 | — |
| Third-party processors | 4 | — |
| Credit reporting service provider | 1 | — |
| Representative offices | 5 | — |
| Money changers | 3,393 | — |
A few points behind the numbers:
- Payment service providers. Besides the 30 licensed providers, 3 more banks and financial institutions received NBC authorisation to offer payment services.
- Money changers. Only 38 of the 3,393 hold a full licence (33 in Phnom Penh, 5 in the provinces). The other 3,355 operate under a permit. In 2025 the NBC issued 13 new approvals and ended 6.
- Ownership. Measured by shareholder type, institutions with foreign shareholders held 64.3% of banking-system assets at the end of 2025. Locally owned institutions held 35.7%, up from 31.2% a year earlier.
How big the banking system is
From the same report, for 2025:
| Measure | End 2025 | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | KHR 402.3 trillion (USD 100.2 billion) | +8.2% |
| Customer loans | KHR 255.5 trillion (USD 63.7 billion) | +5.4% |
| Customer deposits | KHR 257.6 trillion (USD 64.2 billion) | +12.4% |
| Non-performing loan ratio | 8.6% | rose |
The NBC adds that the net non-performing loan ratio was 2.4% and that provisions covered 71.2% of bad loans. In plain terms: a larger share of loans is in trouble, but banks have set money aside against much of it.
E-wallets and mobile payments
The NBC also reports on payment providers:
- 17.9 million registered e-wallet accounts at the end of 2025, down 13.4% from 2024.
- 2.2 billion mobile payment transactions through e-wallets in 2025, up 80.8%.
- USD 170 billion in transaction value, up 46.5%, or about 3.4 times Cambodia’s GDP.
The NBC does not explain why the number of accounts fell while payments rose.
What the NBC does not regulate
Insurance, securities and several other non-bank sectors have their own regulator. The Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority was promulgated on 16 January 2021. It set up the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority, which covers:
- Insurance and private pensions
- Securities and exchange
- Social security
- Trusts
- Accounting and auditing
- Real estate business and pawnshops
Each sector has its own regulator under the Authority, for example the Insurance Regulator of Cambodia and the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia.
How to check whether a company is licensed
The NBC publishes a list of regulated entities for each category above, from commercial banks to money changers, under Supervision → List of Regulated Entities on its website. If a bank, lender, wallet or exchange counter is not on the right list, it is not licensed by the NBC. For insurance or securities firms, check the relevant non-bank regulator instead.
Sources
Primary sources are documents from central banks and regulators. We cite them first.
- OfficialAbout the NBC: OverviewNational Bank of CambodiaMission, monetary and supervisory roles, sole issuer of the riel.
- PrimaryLaws Applicable to Banks and Financial InstitutionsNational Bank of CambodiaList of laws; the NBC notes its English translations are unofficial.
- PrimaryAnnual Supervision Report 2025National Bank of CambodiaInstitution counts (p. 1), system size and NPL ratios (pp. iii, 1), payment providers, e-wallets and money changers (pp. 15–16).
- OfficialSupervision overview and list of regulated entitiesNational Bank of CambodiaWhere to check whether an institution is licensed.
- PrimaryAnnual Report 2021 on the Cambodia Insurance MarketInsurance Regulator of CambodiaSection 2.1, p. 6: the law creating the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority and the sectors it covers.
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