Sri Lanka’s HNB has reported a smooth transition to contactless remittance transactions parallel to rising demand for digital remittances and cardless withdrawals during the coronavirus lockdown.

The bond is the first Green Bond issued via Symbiotics’ sponsored bond issuance platform under its Sustainability, Social and Green Bond Framework which was certified in December 2019 by DNV GL.

The funding will be used to expand lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, with over a third dedicated to businesses owned by women.

The unprecedented crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has severely dented Sri Lanka’s economy, causing a steep fall in the earnings from tourism, remittances and outflow of foreign investment, the nation’s central bank has said.

Sri Lanka-based fintech Genie has partnered with Bank of Ceylon to act as the financial acquirer and digitize payments through its mobile wallet solution. 

Many Cambodians are being forced to sell their livestock and farms to pay off debts to banks and microfinance institutions, prompting calls for the government to prevent lenders from collecting during the outbreak.

Deep household debt might soon push Cambodia into a crisis as job losses caused by  Covid-19 make it even harder for families repay loans, experts and debtors say.

With many Cambodians out of work, COVID-19 is also throwing another problem into sharp relief: that of precariously high microfinance debt.

The couple, in their 50s, run a roadside restaurant in Kampong Speu, a province west of Phnom Penh that has the highest number of microcredit loans in Cambodia.