Cash remains the primary payment method in many parts of Southeast Asia. In Myanmar, competition to provide cash services is intense.
Vikram Kumar, country manager for Myanmar at the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank Group, recently told the Southeast Asia Globe that domestic banks in Myanmar are under pressure “to prepare themselves to cope with the demands placed on them by the expected pace of economic growth. As a consequence, most banks have upgraded or are in the process of upgrading their technology capacity.”
Myanmar’s Co-Operative Bank Limited (CB Bank) is the latest to upgrade its banking infrastructure. Sometime earlier the bank upgraded all its existing ATMs to more secure EMV chip card technology and obtain EMV certification with both VISA and MasterCard.
More recently, the bank ordered 500 new ATMs and cash recyclers as part of a more extensive contract for systems, software and services to expand its self-service cash offerings beyond the country's main commercial hub Yangon.
Diebold Nixdorf is also assisting CB Bank with the implementation of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs. Bank customers will be able to use their mobile devices to generate a one-time PIN to activate a withdrawal at an ATM either for themselves or for a third party without requiring a bankcard.
The technology provides an innovative person-to-person payment service to consumers especially in developing markets, and underscores Diebold Nixdorf's commitment to drive connected commerce and help bridge the digital and physical worlds.
CB Bank has grander ambitions beyond just upgrading its infrastructure. According to U Kyaw Lynn, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman, at CB Bank, the bank aims to become one of Myanmar's top banks offering secure, innovative and convenient cash services across our branch, online and mobile channels.
The rollout will mean a total of 1,000 advanced cash systems across a network of 180 CB Bank branches. Completion is expected to be by the end of 2017.