Phnom Penh, May 25 (IANS): In a new report, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said that the country has witnessed a significant increase in mobile payments as more people have transitioned from cash-based to digital options.

"The trend of using payment services has been remarkedly increasing as customers behaviours shifted from cash-based towards digital payments," the NBC's banking supervision report 2022 said.

"The number of registered e-wallet accounts increased to $19.5 million and the total number of transactions jumped from 708 million to 1 billion with a total amount of $272.8 billion, increased by 34 per cent, approximately nine times the gross domestic product (GDP)," the report said.

The report said 35 payment service institutions (PSIs) have been licensed and two banking and financial institutions (BFIs) have been authorized to operate payment businesses by the end of 2022.

"Generally, the products and services offered by these institutions are in the form of digital payments that can be operated through mobile applications or at various payment agents and other networks," it said.

"The use of financial technology integrated into payment services is a factor for enhancing financial inclusion, promoting competition, fostering innovation, and improving public confidence in using payment services," it added.

Cambodia Post Bank's chief executive officer Toch Chaochek said on Thursday that mobile payment services have gained strong momentum over the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Since the pandemic, we have seen that more and more people have switched to using digital payments in their daily lives, while many financial institutions have been improving their digital payment systems," he told Xinhua.

Chaochek said more than 200,000 e-wallet accounts have been registered under the Cambodia Post Bank so far.