Just 10 days after its last cuts, ACLEDA Bank has lowered its fixed deposit rates again. The biggest cuts are for deposits in Khmer Riel, although these term deposits still offer a significantly higher payout than putting your money in a US Dollar deposit. In particular, very short-term deposits (3, 6 and 9 months) with monthly payouts in KHR have been hit hard. However, ACLEDA made the biggest cut to its 1 and 2 year deposits, which pay out in KHR at maturity: the rate was slashed by 0.65 percentage points.
We suspect that ACLEDA felt it could make these cuts because their direct competitor, ABA Bank, is offering even lower rates.
The question, of course, is whether the rate cuts by these major banks will set a precedent for others. Will other Cambodian financial institutions follow suit and are further rate cuts in the pipeline?