In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- Not publicly documented
- Birthplace
- Cambodia
- Country
- Cambodia
- Nationality
- Cambodian
- Known for
- Building Canadia Bank and major Cambodian financial and urban-development companies
- Bank
- Canadia Bank
- Development company
- Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation
- Industry role
- Banking and construction association leadership
- Earlier base
- Entrepreneurship in Canada
- Canadia chronology
- Founded 1991; commercial bank 1993; fully privatised 1998
Why this life matters
Pung Kheav Se helped institutionalise private banking after Cambodia reopened its economy, then used that base to finance some of Phnom Penh’s largest development projects.
Timeline
Key moments
Built a business in Canada
Worked as an entrepreneur before returning to Cambodia.
Established Canadia
Founded a financial institution serving commerce during economic reopening.
Became a commercial bank
Canadia Gold & Trust became Canadia Bank, with commercial-bank registration and licensing.
Canadia fully privatised
IFC’s historical project disclosure dates full privatisation to 1998, separately from the bank’s 1993 transition.
Expanded into development
Established OCIC to develop the group’s non-financial investments.
IFC supported housing finance
An IFC credit-line project for Canadia’s mortgage business was approved and signed in 2004, with an investment event recorded in June 2005.
Led a wider financial group
Banking, microfinance, insurance and property operated under the Canadia group.
Business in Montreal before the Cambodian return
Pung Kheav Se’s business career extends beyond the Cambodian bank with which he is most closely associated. A 2010 Rural Development Bank report records earlier work in Phnom Penh, migration to Canada in 1980, the establishment of Oriental Ship Supplies in Montreal in 1982 and a vice-presidential role at Oriental Commercial Inc. in 1986. His commercial experience therefore preceded his participation in Cambodia’s banking recovery.
That institutional profile places his return and co-founding of Canadia Gold & Trust in 1991. A later business feature uses 1990 for his return. The secure common chronology is his Canadian entrepreneurial experience followed by participation in Cambodia’s early-1990s financial reopening. Exact birth details remain unverified in the records used here.
Canadia’s foundation, banking licence and privatisation
Canadia began in 1991 as Canadia Gold & Trust Corporation, a venture involving overseas Cambodians and the National Bank of Cambodia. The bank’s timeline dates its first branch to 11 November. Its origins therefore combined diaspora investment with a financial institution being rebuilt after decades of conflict, rather than beginning as a fully private commercial bank in its present form.
IFC’s 2004 project disclosure distinguishes the next stages: commercial-bank registration and the Canadia Bank name in 1993, a foreign-exchange licence in 1994 and full privatisation in 1998. These dates explain different legal and ownership changes. The 1998 privatisation should not be described as the original commercial-banking licence.
Housing finance and an external view of the bank
Canadia’s growth included financing for households as well as companies. IFC disclosed a proposed credit line of up to US$5 million in 2004 to support its residential mortgage portfolio and longer-term housing loans. The project’s event record separates approval and signing in 2004 from an investment event in June 2005.
Longer-term lending broadened the bank’s role beyond transactions and trading services. A mortgage portfolio connected its financing to home ownership, while corporate lending served a different set of borrowers. The IFC project documents that housing-finance initiative at a specific stage of the bank’s development, rather than the later construction portfolio of OCIC.
Sources for this section: [2]
OCIC and the distinction between banking and development
Pung founded Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation in 2000. OCIC’s own history describes it as a business under the wider Canadia umbrella, formed to expand investment beyond financial services. The distinction matters because Canadia Bank, Canadia Group and OCIC are related names with different businesses and responsibilities, not three interchangeable labels for a single bank.
OCIC became associated with commercial buildings, new urban districts and infrastructure. A 2025 account lists Canadia Tower, Sorya Center Point, Koh Pich, Olympia City and Chroy Changvar among the group’s developments. That portfolio links Pung’s banking background to Phnom Penh’s construction economy, while each project still has its own ownership, financing, delivery and public-impact questions.
Board leadership and the reach of a diversified group
Canadia’s board profile identifies Pung as chairman of Canadia Bank, Cambodia Post Bank and OCIC, alongside involvement in construction-industry leadership and earlier leadership of the Association of Banks in Cambodia. These positions connect regulated finance, investment and industry representation, extending his influence beyond any one building or bank branch.
His trajectory connects overseas commercial experience, the rebuilding of a bank and diversification into a separate investment company. Board leadership coordinates a wider set of businesses than daily bank management: Canadia lists its chief executive separately from the chairman. This institutional structure explains why Pung appears in accounts of both financial-sector development and the transformation of Phnom Penh’s built environment.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Pung Kheav Se
- Who is Pung Kheav Se?
- Pung Kheav Se is a banker and chairman of Canadia Group. Pung Kheav Se helped institutionalise private banking after Cambodia reopened its economy, then used that base to finance some of Phnom Penh’s largest development projects.
- What is Pung Kheav Se best known for?
- Pung Kheav Se is best known for building Canadia Bank and major Cambodian financial and urban-development companies.
- Is Pung Kheav Se’s birth date publicly documented?
- The institutional and corporate sources used for this profile do not publish a reliable birth date for Pung Kheav Se. Biography Compass leaves it unverified rather than repeating an unsupported date.
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- Sok Kong
Explore the fuel-led origins of a group active in hospitality and development.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Rural Development Bank, CambodiaAnnual report 2010: Pung’s Canadian business and Canadia career
Dated institutional biography supports the Montreal businesses and 1993 banking licence. Its 1991 return date differs from the 1990 date in the 2025 business feature; no precise return date is asserted across both accounts.
- 2. International Finance CorporationCanadia mortgage-finance project: dated history and investment events
The original 2004 disclosure records 1993 commercial registration and 1998 privatisation, correcting the previous 1998 licence claim. Ownership and accounts describe that historical project, not the present group.
- 3. Overseas Cambodian Investment CorporationOCIC founder and corporate relationship
Company account establishes its stated origins and relationships. Promotional assessments of national impact are not independently verified by this biography.
- 4. Overseas Cambodian Investment CorporationOCIC’s 2000 origins and development role, 2025 account
- 5. Cambodia Investment Review, business featureCanadian return and Phnom Penh development portfolio
- 6. Canadia BankAbout Canadia Bank
Board profile supports institutional roles. Bank assets, gross revenue and other company figures are not personal net worth; existing undocumented birth details remain unresolved.
- 7. Canadia GroupCanadia Group corporate profile
- 8. Wikimedia CommonsPortrait and CC BY-SA 4.0 record
