In the future, Klickl will continue to turn its vision into reality by building a digital financial infrastructure that connects different financial systems and serves real global capital flows.

Author and source: Klickl

Phnom Penh, September 1, 2026 — The 2026 China-ASEAN Entrepreneurs Summit was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Nearly 300 representatives from the governments, regulatory bodies, think tanks, financial institutions, and industries of China and Cambodia participated, engaging in discussions on industrial chain collaboration, two-way investment, cross-border trade, and the digital economy.

Klickl Group was invited to attend the summit, where it officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Guochuang Silk Road Group, and Dermot Mayes, a board member and CEO of the UAE division, delivered a keynote speech on digital finance.

During the summit, H.E. Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, met with a delegation of entrepreneurs. Klickl, as a participating company, engaged in related discussions to gain deeper insights into Cambodia’s investment environment, industrial development, and capital market conditions. Seizing this summit as an opportunity, Klickl will continue advancing its localization in Cambodia and explore cross-border digital financial connectivity between China, the UAE, and Cambodia.

Cambodia: A New Regional Connectivity Hub

As Chinese enterprises continue to enter ASEAN, Cambodia is increasingly becoming a key node connecting industries, investment, and regional financial networks.

On one hand, industrial and trade ties between China and Cambodia continue to deepen; on the other hand, Cambodia’s youthful population structure, improving investment environment, and demand for industrial upgrading are creating new opportunities for digital economy and cross-border financial infrastructure.

For Klickl, Cambodia represents more than just a single national market—it is connected to the growing internationalization needs of Chinese enterprises, the expanding ASEAN market, and the increasing global financial hub capabilities of the UAE and the Gulf region.

Michael Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Klickl, said:

Cambodia has a young and highly capable leadership team and is cultivating a more open investment environment. As Chinese companies continue to expand into ASEAN, Cambodia is unlocking significant structural opportunities.

Image: The Klickl team at the main venue of the 2026 China-ASEAN Entrepreneurs Summit

According to Michael Zhao, as Chinese companies evolve from exporting goods to making overseas investments, operating locally, and establishing regional supply chains, the financial challenges they face are also changing. What truly needs to be addressed is no longer just a single cross-border payment, but rather how accounts, payments, currency exchange, settlement, treasury management, and compliance can continuously coordinate across different markets.

After the globalization of industries, financial infrastructure must also become global. This is precisely the key rationale behind Klickl’s strategic expansion into Cambodia.

Strategic partnership realized: From "entering Cambodia" to "building together with Cambodia"

At the summit, Klickl Group and Guochuang Silk Road Group officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on strategic cooperation, one of the six key signing projects of this summit.

Leveraging the complementary strengths of both parties, the collaboration will be implemented across five key areas:

• Build a compliant cross-border payment and settlement network for foreign trade enterprises.
• Develop digital financial tools tailored to Cambodia's commercial landscape
• Support the infrastructure development for cross-border e-commerce fund flows
• Conduct exchanges and talent training on digital finance compliance topics
• Provide comprehensive financial services such as supply chain finance and trade finance.

Photo | Michael Zhao (far left) signs on behalf of Klickl with Guochuang Silk Road on-site

Compared to partnerships focused on a single product or payment channel, this collaboration emphasizes how digital financial capabilities can be integrated into real-world scenarios such as cross-border trade, e-commerce, and business operations, gradually enhancing related financial services around the steadily growing trade and fund flows between China and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Klickl is advancing the establishment and localization of a local company in Cambodia, with Guochuang Silk Road Group planning to participate as a strategic shareholder in the development of the local company.

In the future, Klickl will actively expand its local banking, payment, and compliance partnerships based on local teams and entities, build deeper collaborations with local financial institutions and industry partners, and implement products and services in alignment with Cambodia’s regulatory requirements and real-world business needs.

This means that Klickl’s presence in Cambodia is evolving from cross-border services toward building local entities, local resources, and long-term operational capabilities.

From regulatory clarity to regional connectivity: Klickl proposes a path of the “Trusted Digital Financial Gateway”

As a representative company in the field of digital financial infrastructure at this forum, Klickl also shared how digital finance can gradually evolve from technical capabilities to institutionalized and scalable applications, drawing on its practical experience in building businesses, compliance systems, and financial infrastructure from scratch in markets such as Hong Kong, the UAE, and Singapore.

Dermot Mayes, Board Member and CEO of Klickl in the UAE, delivered a keynote speech titled “Opportunities in Cambodia: Building a Trusted Digital Financial Gateway—from Regulatory Clarity to Regional Interconnectivity,” systematically outlining Klickl’s insights on Cambodia’s digital financial development through the lenses of regulatory frameworks, institutional trust, digital financial infrastructure, and regional financial connectivity.

Image | Dermot Mayes, Board Member of Klickl and CEO of the UAE, delivers a keynote speech

Dermot proposed in his speech that technology creates possibility, but trust is what enables technology to truly become infrastructure. In his view, the key to the next stage of digital finance is no longer just technological innovation, but the ability to build infrastructure that earns long-term trust from regulators, financial institutions, enterprises, and investors.

Based on this assessment, Klickl proposes the “Trust Stack” implementation framework: building a layered, trustworthy, regulatable, and sustainable foundational infrastructure spanning business definition, market access, compliance and risk control, and banking system integration, ultimately empowering real-world commercial scenarios such as cross-border trade, enterprise operations, and capital flows.

At the same time, Klickl proposes building a programmable China-Cambodia financial corridor, designed for Chinese enterprises expanding into Cambodia, addressing needs in cross-border trade, corporate payments and receipts, foreign exchange management, and treasury management—integrating global accounts, compliant settlement capabilities, and local financial networks to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and control of fund flows.

Dermot Mayes emphasizes the philosophy of "Build with Cambodia—not just in Cambodia": rather than simply replicating mature overseas products, collaborate with regulators to co-design rules and conduct pilot programs to achieve local adaptation; once the model is proven, extend its capabilities across the entire ASEAN market. Cambodia is poised to leverage this as a springboard to become a regional digital finance gateway connecting China, ASEAN, and the global financial network.

From Local Practice to Regional Connectivity: Klickl Deepens Its ASEAN Presence

Beyond the main agenda of the summit, Klickl further extended its observations on the Cambodian market to the regulatory and industrial levels, engaging in discussions with local regulatory authorities and representatives from physical industries.

During the summit, the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) hosted the Klickl team, and both sides held discussions on topics including the digital economy, regulation of digital finance, and the development of market infrastructure. The Cambodian side gained insight into Klickl’s experiences in advancing digital finance infrastructure across various markets and engaged in dialogue on the development path for digital finance under local regulatory conditions.

Image | SERC and Klickl team

Meanwhile, Khaer Group, one of Cambodia’s most influential integrated enterprise groups, hosted the Klickl team, and both sides exchanged views on how digital finance can serve real industries and bring financial capabilities into actual business operations.

Image | Michael Zhao with Mr. Fang Qiaosheng, Chairman of Cambodia Khmer Group (fifth from right)

For Klickl, these discussions further reinforced the view that the successful implementation of digital finance depends not only on the regulatory environment but also on the ability to integrate into real-world industrial scenarios.

Over the past few years, Klickl has gained experience in market entry, regulatory adaptation, financial institution partnerships, and business implementation in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UAE. Cambodia now serves as a key extension of this experience within the ASEAN region.

In 2025, Klickl participated in the ASEAN-GCC-China-related economic forum held in Malaysia. A year later, having arrived in Phnom Penh from Kuala Lumpur, Klickl’s presence in Southeast Asia is evolving from regional engagement toward localized advancement.

Connect China. Empower Cambodia. Reach the World. Klickl’s strategy is now clear: use the UAE as a global financial and compliance hub, build localized service capabilities in the ASEAN market around the real financial needs of Chinese enterprises as they internationalize, and establish a cross-regional digital finance network.

In the future, Klickl will continue to turn its vision into reality by building a digital financial infrastructure that connects different financial systems and serves real global capital flows.

About Klickl

Klickl, headquartered in the UAE, is a digital financial infrastructure platform serving global markets.

Leveraging three core capabilities—Accounts, Payments, and Assets—Klickl provides modular financial services including global accounts, payment and settlement, custody, trading, corporate treasury, merchant services, risk management and compliance, and SaaS/API solutions for individuals, businesses, and institutional clients.

Klickl has established a compliance framework across multiple major jurisdictions, with the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) regulatory regime serving as the central anchor for building a global compliance infrastructure for digital finance.