Jay Cohen, a partner and director of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Cambodia office, was recently interviewed by PaymentsCompliance for an article discussing the growth of the Cambodian payments sector.

The article, entitled “Competition Intensifies in Cambodian Payment Sector as Reforms Take Hold,” addresses the exciting growth in innovative payment services that has accompanied the mass consumer adoption of digital wallets in Cambodia. As the Cambodian government first moved to regulate this disruptive sector in 2014, some raised concerns about their potential to stifle innovation and drive consolidation. However, Jay notes that the opposite has proven to be true, and that local innovative companies have in fact been encouraged to come to market. “The challenge,” he notes, “[will now be] to garner a significant amount of market share so that they can benefit from a network effect.”

Although this healthy regulatory regime provides more freedom for fintech to grow, Jay notes that “business models are already moving beyond what is specifically regulated under the [National Bank of Cambodia’s] third-party processor and payment service provider rules, creating regulatory uncertainty for some corners of the sector.” That uncertainty is likely to grow along with the growth in payment services, and should be closely monitored by those providing or using e-payment services in Cambodia.

PaymentsCompliance  is a leading provider of regulatory, legal, and compliance information to the global payments industry. To read the full article, please visit the PaymentsCompliance  website (login required).