Ceritalah | Can mobile banking overcome Myanmar’s trust issues?
- With only 10 per cent of the country’s 53.9 million population owning bank accounts, the prospects for growth are huge
It is 5pm on a Wednesday and Yangon’s streets are at a near standstill. Sunset comes early to this city of 7.36 million.
Thankfully, since it is winter, the weather is cooler and drier than the rest of the year. So as dusk descends over some of the unruliest traffic in Asia – there are both left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive cars on the streets – Team Ceritalah has withdrawn to a cafe in the middle-class neighbourhood of Tamwe Township, just to the east of downtown Yangon.
Myo Zaw Khant is a 26-year-old banking assistant.
Despite the chaos outside, he is the epitome of cool professionalism: wearing a traditional cotton longyi and a white collarless shirt. He has a shy smile and a reserved, self-disciplined manner. ‘Ko’ (the equivalent of ‘Mr’ for young men) Khant is a native of Mawlamyine (or Moulmein), a faded port and former British stronghold some 300km to the southeast of the capital.
“I have worked as a banker for two years now. I started out as a computer technician – I’ve always liked technology and computers.”
One of four brothers in his family – and single – the Manchester United fan (he plays soccer every weekend, avoiding nightclubs) moved to Yangon nine years ago. He is very lucky in that his family bought a flat many years ago in Dawbon township in southeastern Yangon, thereby saving him from having to pay rent. He cycles to work – it is just 2km away and takes him about 20 minutes.