Myanmar private bank to open money exchange counters in some ASEAN member countries

Myanmar private bank the Cooperative Bank will launch money exchange services in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in its very first phase in a bid to extend its foreign trade services to the ASEAN member countries, banking circle said on Tuesday. The Cooperative Bank has had 23 branches in the country since its establishment and more branches will be added to reach out to the international counterparts. The Cooperative Bank is providing money exchange services domestically with ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) with the help of the Central Bank of Myanmar. In November, 11 private banks out of 19 were granted to trade three foreign hard currencies -- U.S. dollar, euro and Singapore dollar. The 11 private banks include Kanbawza Bank, Cooperative Bank, Myanmar Industrial Development Bank, Myawaddy Bank, Inwa Bank, Myanmar Oriental Bank, Asian Green Development Bank, Ayeyawaddy Bank, Myanmar Pioneer Bank, United Amara Bank and Tun Foundation Bank. There are also three state-owned banks in Myanmar -- Myanma Economic Bank (MEB), Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment Commercial Bank (MICB). Besides the state-owned and private banks, there have also been 15 foreign bank representative offices from nine countries set up in Myanmar so far, of which four from Singapore, two each from Bangladesh, Malaysia and Japan, and one each from Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam and China.