Fintech & digital payments rules in Cambodia (2026)

All payment service providers must obtain an operating licence from the NBC under the Prakas on Payment Service Institutions; the regime covers e-money issuance, e-wallets, fund transfers and payment processing. Licences are time-limited with annual fees.

Licensed payment institutions must hold minimum registered capital of about KHR 8 billion (~USD 2 million) and deposit 5% of paid-up capital with the NBC as a guarantee; NBC decides applications within roughly six months.

A March 2021 NBC circular set customer-identification (KYC) procedures and tiered daily transaction limits for payment service institutions, layering AML/CDD obligations onto the licensing regime.

NBC operates Bakong, a central real-time retail payment platform, and the KHQR national QR standard (launched 2022) interoperable across banks and e-wallets; Bakong processed about 608 million transactions worth ~USD 105 billion in 2024.

KHQR is linked to payment systems in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, plus Japan, South Korea and Alipay+, enabling cross-border QR payments under NBC-led bilateral arrangements.

Cambodia has no dedicated open-banking regime or specific BNPL rules — BNPL may fall under the Law on Credit Institutions 2024 only if interest-bearing. NBC issued Prakas No. B7-024-735 on cryptoasset transactions (effective 26 Dec 2024) creating a CASP regime, but a comprehensive payments statute is still absent (licensing rests on Prakas).