Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on October 21 launched the Online Account Opening Platform to allow investors to open accounts anywhere, in a bid to attract more investors and spur trading on the bourse.
The launch was accompanied by a ceremony held at the first of the three-day My First Stock 2022 exhibition in the capital.
CSX CEO Hong Sok Hour vowed that the local exchange would continue to tap into the popularity of technological solutions, updating its applications and making it easier for investors and the general public to trade more.
Offering past examples of this, Sok Hour mentioned the CSX Trade app soft-launched in February, the “second-generation” Phsarhun app which the CEO claimed makes understanding the stock market easier, and most recently, the Online Account Opening Platform he said marks a “new milestone” for the bourse.
Speaking at the event, Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) director-general Sou Socheat stressed that the modernisation of the CSX is essential to keep pace with local and global government policies and development trends, as well as the Kingdom’s transition into a digital economy.
“We started from scratch, and now we have a complete market infrastructure,” he said, adding that seven businesses have issued bonds on the CSX, three of which have reached maturity.
Socheat also noted that a number of companies are preparing to issue either stocks or bonds, including green bonds.
At the same event, Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state Hean Sahip commented that improving transparency, predictability and confidence is essential for the CSX to move forward and develop sustainably.
He commented that the CSX’s continued efforts to encourage companies with perceived potential to list on the exchange, to explore the development of a variety of investment products, and to establish mechanisms to facilitate trading “will make our market more active”.
“We request all stakeholders to work together to attract more investors, facilitate trading, provide better services to investors and attract more of them to issue initial public offerings [IPO],” he said.
As of September 30, the SERC issued 33,186 investor identification numbers, to 28,618 Cambodian entities and 4,568 foreign ones.
