About Amret

About Amret

Amret is a leading microfinance institution and one of the top 10 financial institutions in Cambodia. A full subsidiary of the Advans Group, Amret has prestigious international shareholders and respected national and international reputations as a responsible and innovative institution. Throughout its evolution, Amret has stayed true to its mission - to provide underserved clients with financial services tailored to their needs.


​​​​​​​To support Cambodian entrepreneurship, Amret has developed a suite of financial services, including flexible and easily accessible loans for farmers as well as medium loans for micro, small and medium enterprises. Moreover, Amret is offering a full suite of deposit, saving, payment, and transfer services for rural and urban households and enterprises to manage their budget and realize their projects all over Cambodia. All these services are delivered at our branches and via several digital channels with the utmost professionalism and a particular emphasis on high-quality customer service and personal relationship.

Our Milestones

1991

GRET, a French NGO, sets up an experimental project to deliver microcredit to the rural population of Cambodia. The first experimental phase is launched with a single financial service known as Solidarity Credit.

2000

With technical support from Horus-Development Finance, the project is transformed into a private limited company, EMT, with registered share capital of KHR330 million and two shareholders, GRET and SIDI.

2001

EMT receives its MFI license from the National Bank of Cambodia.

2002

EMT legally admits two new shareholders, LFP and Proparco, with a combined 20% of the capital.

2003

I&P joins EMT as a new shareholder.

2004

EMT is renamed "Amret" on 14 June 2004; LFP buys out Proparco.

2006

Advans SA SICAR becomes a shareholder. Advans SA is a venture capital investment company created in 2005 by Horus Development Finance with the participation of major international financial institutions EIB, KfW, IFC, AFD, FMO and CDC.

2007

Botta (Amret’s staff investment company) becomes a shareholder.

2008

Advans becomes lead shareholder and “influential shareholder” as per Cambodian Banking Law, with 31.32% of the capital. SIDI and I&P exit as shareholders and Amret admits three new investors: FMO, Oikocredit and Proparco.

2009

Amret obtains a license to operate as a deposit-taking MFI in January. By the end of the year, all Amret branches are ready to begin the collection of public savings.

2012

Advans SA buys out Oikocredit, increasing its share to 44.42% of the capital. Amret strengthens its cash flow-based methodology for individual credit and pilots its SME lending product.

2013

Amret rolls out SME loans and pilots AgriFin, a rural loan product to provide small and medium-scale agricultural entrepreneurs with the capital needed to expand their activities.

2014

Roll out of Amret’s T24 core banking system and of the AgriFin loan.

2015

Amret becomes a full subsidiary of the Advans Group in March. Advans SA becomes a majority shareholder; FMO and IFC are the two references shareholders. In August, Amret rolls out mobile financial services. Amret participates in Advans internal and external 10-year anniversary celebrations.

2016

Amret is awarded a UN Capital Development Fund grant on 14 October to expand women’s financial inclusion through digital finance.

2017

Amret receives a GOLD Certificate for Tax Compliance from GDT, valid for 2017-18, deploys ATMs in 20 branches, and joins the National Shared Switch scheme. With the launch of short-term business loans, Amret can offer a complete set of solutions for SMEs. Advans Myanmar, with technical assistance from Amret, opens its first branch 2016 in April.

2018

Amret is a famous name resonating as an outstanding financial Institution among the top 10 financial institutions in Cambodia. The company is proud to be the best in class for portfolio quality

2019

Amret marks an important​​ step in its development with the launch of its refreshed brand and a new logo. Its assets reached USD 1 billion.

2020

In times of global Covid-19 pandemic, Amret successfully obtains its re-certification to Client Protection Principles (CPP) by Smart Campaign for a new 4 year period (2020-2024) - a global recognition of its commitment to social responsibility.

2021

Amret modernized its tech infrastructure, including Core Banking System and reached net profit of more than $40M for the first time.

Accordion Content

Amret History

Amret’s roots go back to a modest rural loan initiative set up in 1991 by a French organization called GRET (Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques) in just three provinces. It was GRET’s vision of achieving a truly sustainable future by nurturing local entrepreneurial spirit through the provision of responsible and affordable credit that founded Amret MFI.

 ​​​​​​Amret, first known as GRET and then as Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath (Local Rural Credit), started as a small credit project operating through five village associations in just three provinces: Kandal, Kampong Speu and Prey Veng.

Amret was formerly known as Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath (in English, it means "Local Rural Credit") or briefly called EMT (/ə/-/ɛm/-/te/). Because the full name was long so short name (EMT) was always used, and the full name (Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath) had rarely been used.

EMT was not usually pronounced in the right way because at present, most of people in Cambodia like to use English, they usually pronounce /i:/-/ɛm/-/ti:/ instead of /ə/-/ɛm/-/te/. Moreover, most of clients in rural areas always called the name shortly like: /ɛm/-/te/, /ə/-/te/ or /te/-/te/ so Amret's Management Staff had decided to change this name.

Through thorough study and correct consideration, with the help from a doctor of Khmer literature to give advice and explain the meaning of Amret, and through the study about the meaning and pronunciation of Amret from its clients especially some ethnics living in Cambodia such as Cham, Vietnamese, and some others, it has shown that Amret has good meaning and does not have bad meaning in the languages of these ethnics; additionally, the reverse pronunciation (Et-ram) of Amret is not a bad word.
​​​​​​​
The Management Staff decided to change the name from EMT to Amret on June 14, 2004. The purpose of this change is to make clients and people call the name of the institution easily and correctly. Another purpose is to name the institution in Khmer language that has good meaning and shows the solidarity.

MapIn cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, GRET provided loan to people after a workshop in May, 1991. There were only 50 participants participating in the workshop. The workshop made decision and commitment to focus on only one target which was the long time and sustainable credit for providing to people.​​​​​​​This credit provision of GRET had to be able to facilitate and improve the living standard of borrowers. GRET followed the procedure of credit provision of Grameen Bank for applying to its procedure of credit provision by creating solidary group to guarantee each other for getting loan.
​​​​​​​
The maximum loan size for each member of the group was only 30.000 riels, which was equal to 30USD (according to the exchange rate at that time). Only one person in a family could get loan, and the number of members to get loan were limited to 5 members only in each group (no more and no less than 5 people). Those members guaranteed each other to get loan from Amret, and loan period was only 10 months for each cycle.

Amret’s beginning as a Gret’s project in 1991

​​​​​​Amret, first known as GRET and then as Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath (Local Rural Credit), started as a small credit project operating through five village associations in just three provinces: Kandal, Kampong Speu and Prey Veng.

​​​​​​​

The former name of Amret

Amret was formerly known as Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath (in English, it means "Local Rural Credit") or briefly called EMT (/ə/-/ɛm/-/te/). Because the full name was long so short name (EMT) was always used, and the full name (Ennetean Moulethan Tchonnebath) had rarely been used.

EMT was not usually pronounced in the right way because at present, most of people in Cambodia like to use English, they usually pronounce /i:/-/ɛm/-/ti:/ instead of /ə/-/ɛm/-/te/. Moreover, most of clients in rural areas always called the name shortly like: /ɛm/-/te/, /ə/-/te/ or /te/-/te/ so Amret's Management Staff had decided to change this name.

​​​​​​​Through thorough study and correct consideration, with the help from a doctor of Khmer literature to give advice and explain the meaning of Amret, and through the study about the meaning and pronunciation of Amret from its clients especially some ethnics living in Cambodia such as Cham, Vietnamese, and some others, it has shown that Amret has good meaning and does not have bad meaning in the languages of these ethnics; additionally, the reverse pronunciation (Et-ram) of Amret is not a bad word.
​​​​​​​
The Management Staff decided to change the name from EMT to Amret on June 14, 2004. The purpose of this change is to make clients and people call the name of the institution easily and correctly. Another purpose is to name the institution in Khmer language that has good meaning and shows the solidarity.

At the start, Amret only provided small group loans in villages

In cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, GRET provided loan to people after a workshop in May, 1991. There were only 50 participants participating in the workshop. The workshop made decision and commitment to focus on only one target which was the long time and sustainable credit for providing to people.​​​​​​​This credit provision of GRET had to be able to facilitate and improve the living standard of borrowers. GRET followed the procedure of credit provision of Grameen Bank for applying to its procedure of credit provision by creating solidary group to guarantee each other for getting loan.
​​​​​​​
The maximum loan size for each member of the group was only 30.000 riels, which was equal to 30USD (according to the exchange rate at that time). Only one person in a family could get loan, and the number of members to get loan were limited to 5 members only in each group (no more and no less than 5 people). Those members guaranteed each other to get loan from Amret, and loan period was only 10 months for each cycle.