Holders of Japanese Credit Bureau and China Union Pay bank cards will
be able to use them in Myanmar by early 2013 following the signing of
agreements with the Myanmar Banks Association last week.
JCB
completed its deal with the association on November 23, and CUP followed
suit the next day; both agreements were made at the association’s head
office in Yankin township in Yangon.
Holders of international
bank cards with agreements with either CUP or JCB will be able to use
them in the automatic teller machines of the 17 private banks that are
members of the Myanmar Payment Union (MPU), a press release on Asia
Green Development Bank’s (AGD) Facebook page said. Myanmar Payment Union
secretary U Ye Min Oo is also a spokesperson for AGD.
Several
bankers said that even though Myanmar has mostly relied on a cash
economy since the 2003 banking crisis, the sector needs to reform and
modernise in order to offer better service to foreigners who will visit
for the Southeast Asian Games in December 2013 and the chairing of ASEAN
in 2014.
“These cards will be able to be used at wide range of
banks under the MPU,” said U Mya Than, vice chairman of the MPU’s
management committee.
After the United States eased its financial
sanctions on Myanmar, domestic banks are more easily able to form
relationships with international banks, leaving them better able to
provide services for foreign visitors, he said.
JCB is a major
global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer in Japan, a
company press release says. The company launched its card business in
Japan before expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network
includes more than 22 million merchants and more than one million cash
advance locations in 190 countries and territories, the press release
says.
It added that there is a growing demand for acceptance of
payment cards from business visitors and tourists coming to Myanmar, and
the bureau anticipates the increasing need for local credit cards to be
issued to Myanmar residents due to rapid economic growth and rice in
national income.
CUP is an association for China’s banking card
industry and operates under the approval of the People’s Bank of China.
It was launched in 2002, and cards under the union can be used in 104
countries, its website says.
U Ye Min Oo said both payment systems will be in use by February or March.
“We
need to make users familiar with the system by the start of the SEA
Games,” he said, adding that the union will charge a 2- or 3-percent fee
for each transaction.
He said providing the services would benefit participating banks in a number of ways.
“The
first advantage is that we can sell more of our services and products.
The second is that it better promotes our country because when
foreigners have come to Myanmar in the past they have had to bring lots
of cash and exchange it at counters that do not operate 24 hours a day.
“But cards can be used any time they want,” he said.
JCB
International’s senior vice president Yusuke Matsui said the bureau
will cooperate with MPU to run special event in Myanmar over 2013 and
2014, and it plans to provide further services, such as issuing cards
and credit cards to Myanmar citizens.
“We are trying to build up
these services and discussing what we can do with MPU officials on what
are the best solutions,” he said.
source: The Myanmar Times
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