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ACLEDA Bank eyes new headquarters in Vientiane
ACLEDA Bank Lao Ltd plans to build a new headquarters in Vientiane in the near future after seeing an increase in the number of staff and expansion of business services.
“The building will require expenditure of about 64 billion kip (US$8 million),” the bank's CEO and Managing Director, Mr Narin Phon, said in a recent interview in Vientiane.
“We are now waiting for permission from the government regarding a possible location and land,” Mr Narin said. “We have to build a new headquarters because the current building is too small with employee numbers increasing each year.”
As of the end of 2011, the bank had about 454 members of staff, which is expected to rise to 600 employees this year. The target is to have almost 1,000 staff by 2013, and 1,300 to 1,500 staff by 2015.
“We are currently training 82 people to become the bank's new employees,” Mr Narin said. “We are broadening our employment because the bank is both developing its services and expanding in Vientiane and the provinces at a very fast rate.”
The bank started financial service operations in Laos in July 2008 with only 55 staff working in one office, which happens to be the current headquarters.
By the end of last year, the bank had 17 service offices, which rose to 22 offices last week. It has an annual budget of US$2 million, which it will spend on improvements and expansion projects, and hopes to have 23 offices in Laos by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
The 22 offices include 17 services units, four branches in Savannakhet, Champassak, Khammuan and Saravan provinces, and the headquarters in Vientiane.
The bank plans to open a service unit in Phonsavang village of Chanthabouly district, Vientiane, later this year and another in Attapeu province by the end of this year or early next year.
In addition, by the end of this year or early next year it intends to open outlets in Vangvieng district of Vientiane province, Luang Prabang province and other provinces.
It also plans to establish cross-border financial services between Laos, Myanmar, China and Vietnam in the near future.
ACLEDA has become a successful financial service provider for family businesses and small and medium sized enterprises, with loans increasing since the bank set up in Laos over three years ago.
It was the first Cambodia-based commercial bank to operate in Laos. Its shareholders comprise ACLEDA Bank Plc (Cambodia), International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) and the Netherlands' Development Finance Company, Triodos-Doen and Triodos Fair Share Fund.
vientiane times
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