Canadia finally set to relocate to new tower

Photo by: SOVAN PHILONG

Construction workers continue interior work earlier this month on Canadia Tower in Phnom Penh.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 15:01 Nathan Green

After repeated delays, Canadia Bank’s vice president says the lender will move into the Kingdom’s tallest building next week

CANADIA Bank will begin offering banking services from its new tower – the tallest in the country at 29 storeys – on November 5 after the Water Festival, a vice president of the bank said Monday.

Dieter Billmeier said the bank would use the annual holiday period to move its head office into Cambodia’s first skyscraper, which has yet to be officially opened.

“The whole head office will be moved, and we will be ready for full-scale operations after the Water Festival,” he said.

The bank’s retail operations will be housed on the ground and first floors, taking up half of the available space there, while head office staff will be housed over five storeys between levels six and 10.

Billmeier said the bank employed more than 300 staff at head office, out of around 850 people employed countrywide.

The bank had also invested a “huge sum” in upgrading its information technology systems, installing a T24 core banking system from Geneva-based provider Temenos. Only one other bank in Cambodia – ACLEDA – uses the system, Billmeier said, describing it as the most advanced banking system available. “This system is now fully operational,” he said.

The bank originally intended to open its new tower on September 9, but Chief Executive Officer Charles Vann told the Post during a site visit this month that the delay was due to unexpected complications in installing electrical and telecommunications wiring.

Billmeier said Monday an official launch date had not been decided, adding negotiations were still continuing over the composition of the rest of the floors. “It’s not 100 percent clear yet, but it will be a mixture of offices, restaurants, retail space and serviced apartments,” he said.

Vann said earlier this month that negotiations with prospective tenants were ongoing and said the company was staying firm on its well-publicised asking rate of between US$30 and $35 per square metre, “plus or minus”, for office space.