Coming to the payment section of a Cambodian store can often be quite a scary thing, with QR codes for numerous banks, as well as an equal amount of digital wallets.
Which ones though are best to use as an expat, or as a tourist, and can you use cards to pay for goods within Cambodia? Here’s the CLN guide to digital payments in Cambodia in 2024.
Can I use credit and debit cards in Cambodia?
Visa and Mastercard are by far the most common cards accepted in Cambodia, with UnionPay of China and JCB coming in next. When it comes to American Express in Cambodia you can pretty much forget it, with this being the domain of high-end hotels like the Sofitel, as well as randomly Angkor Mart supermarket in Siem Reap.
Yet while many restaurants, marts and shops take cards this is not the case for regular shops, local bars and taxi drivers. To pay digitally for these in Cambodia you will need to enter the realm of a bank account, or digital wallet.
The best digital wallets in Cambodia
A few years ago this was not only a minefield, but an extremely saturated part of the Cambodian market, with seemingly everyone offering their own take on things.
Said wallets allowed people to store money through their branches and pay for things such as utilities, phone top-ups, purchase at stores, as well as even pay Tuk-Tuk drivers.
They also offered a simple way for not only the unbanked to have access to limited banking, but also technically at least for visitors to have a digital payment method.
This arena has been dominated by Wing (who are now a bank), TrueMoney of Thailand, and PiPay, which started by the late chairman of Phnom Penh Crown.
I personally used Wing when I first came to Cambodia as it was allowed for non-residents and had the most acceptance. This in my opinion is still the best option for tourists that don’t necessarily want to top-up phones, pay for Tuk-Tuk’s, or simply don’t want to have excess cash on them.
Main digital payments in Cambodia
Initially this was another overdone and confused market with every bank offering their own form of QR code payment systems, which meant cash registers being filled with QR codes for ABA, Sathapana, Accleda and Prince Bank, to name but a few – none initially working with each other.
ABA though eventually won this race, with the term “Can I ABA you” being common utterance. Thankfully the codes were also integrated, so you can use the QR code ecosystem regardless of whom you bank with.
And this has grown like wildfire with even mom an pop stores, as well as street food even taking digital payments in Cambodia.
You can now also use your ABA account with the QR system in Thailand, as well as link your card to Weixin in China.
The only problem with this system though is that you will need a work permit to be able to even open a bank account within Cambodia, thus meaning this is not something tourists are able to use, although you can often use Wing in many of these places.
Therefore regardless of if you are a tourist, or long term stayer in Cambodia, there are now plenty of options for digital payments in Cambodia.
Author: Gareth Johnson
Gareth Johnson is the founder of Young Pioneer Tours and has visited over 180+ countries. His passion is opening obscure destinations to tourism and sharing his experience of street food.
