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Phongsavanh Bank opens unit at Setthathirath Hospital
Phongsavanh Bank officially opened a service unit yesterday at Setthathirath Hospital in Sisattanak district, Vientiane, after almost six weeks of trial services.
The service unit will provide deposit, withdrawal, domestic and overseas money transfer, and currency exchange services.
“The unit aims to offer its services seven days a week to both locals and other people who come for treatment at the hospital,” the bank's Managing Director, Ms Sengdao Bouphakonekham, said at the opening ceremony.
“We've set up the unit at Setthathirath Hospital because there are no other banking facilities here.”
The unit will also provide a useful service for local residents.
“Since the unit started trial services on December 12, it has accumulated 300 deposit accounts containing almost 3.2 billion kip (US$400,000),” Ms Sengdao said.
The bank also plans to launch another service unit in the district at the National University of Laos' Faculty of Engineering.
“ We are currently preparing the site and expect to open the unit for the students there sooner rather than later,” she said, adding that the bank also plans to open units in Xayaboury and Attapeu provinces in the near future.
At present, the bank has seven branches and 15 service units in Vientiane and some provinces. According to Ms Sengdao, it aims to have 50 service offices nationwide within the next five years.
In addition, the bank has representative offices in Thailand and Vietnam and “hopes to have one office in China in the near future,” she said.
Phongsavanh Bank, which opened in Vientiane in March 2007, is a private, licensed bank providing financial services to individuals, businesses, and government agencies.
Today the bank has 200,000 deposit account holders, a number that is increasing on a daily basis.
It aims to attract more customers by entering account holders into lucky draws to mark the bank's fifth anniversary in March, offering the chance of winning 5 billion kip in attractive prizes, including pick-up trucks, personal accounts, return flights from Vientiane to Bangkok, and cards for use at fuel stations.
Last year the bank launched a range of different services, starting in May with Visa and MasterCard credit card services.
In June it launched a new product and service centre to provide services to nine sectors of small and medium sized enterprises, including agricultural production; food processing; construction; retail and wholesale; auto repair; hotels, guesthouses and restaurants; transportation; education and business administration; handicrafts; and environmental protection.
In November it launched a campaign to each year issue loans to 20,000 households with financial resources of initially not less than 200 billion kip, which it envisaged would increase annually.
In the same month it signed a memorandum of understanding with Agribank of Vietnam to provide banking services to facilitate trade payments, investments and financial transactions in the Dan Savanh-Lao Bao border area of Laos and Vietnam.
vientiane times
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