Korea's Webcash to expand B2B fintech solutions in Cambodia

Webcash Co. a leading business-to-business (B2B) fintech solutions provider in South Korea, said on Thursday its Cambodian affiliate KOSIGN and Phnom Penh Commercial Bank (PPCBank) have signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate sales of Webcash's bookkeeping software to small- and mid-sized enterprises in Cambodia.

Under the agreement, KOSIGN and PPCBank will work closely to promote artificial intelligence-powered bookkeeping software program WABOOKS. The two parties will also join forces to transfer financial technologies, developed in Korea, to the Southeast Asian country.

WABOOKS is available in Cambodian and Vietnamese versions. The software is based on AI Kyungrinara, Webcash's flagship bookeeping product powered by artificial intelligence.

"PPCBank and Webcash aim to increase Cambodian SME clients' work efficiency," said Lim Jong-won, senior director at PPCBank. "We will take the lead on the digitalization of Cambodian enterprises and innovating their fintech solutions," Lim added.

"Webcash supports corporates to innovate their financial solutions and pursues Banking as a Service (BaaS), or the provisioning of banking products to non-banking third parties. We and the bank will improve Cambodia's fintech infrastructure," said Lee Sil-gwon, CEO of Webcash Global Co., the Korean firm's global business affiliate.

Webcash and Korea Software HRD Center, a Cambodia-based tech professional training organization, jointly established KOSIGN in 2013. 

HRD Center selects the top 3% of students majoring in information technology from 10 prestigious universities in Cambodia every year and offers them free education on software development. The number of students a year, between 50 and 60, will expand to around 100 in 2023, thanks to support from Korea's KB Bank.

A total of 560 students have graduated from the center over the past decade and developed their careers in Cambodia’s government organizations, banks or conglomerates, according to Webcash. 

The founders that launched WABOOKS last year started their careers at KOSIGN. The bookkeeping software provides real-time information on B2B transactions through worldwide banks, revenue, expenditures and taxes via mobile phones and desktop computers, as well as creates financial reports and enables digital payment. 

Write to Jihyun Kim at snowy@hankyung.com
Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.