INTERVIEW
How KBZ Bank strides towards financial inclusion in Myanmar They are banking on the country’s high smartphone penetration to improve financial connectivity.
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ith only 10% of Myanmar’s population possessing a bank account and 90 % having a smartphone it made sense for KBZ, the country’s largest private bank, to launch a digital wallet in 2018. Fast forward to a year later and the bank had signed up 3.5 million customers and already processed $1.8b in transactions, and it now has further plans for digital inclusion in this market of 70 million people with an economy growing at 6%. Asian Banking & Finance interviewed Soe Ko Ko, head of agent banking at KBZ Bank, to find out what the bank’s plans are for 2020 with a focus digitalisation and financial connectivity. The bank is championing 100% financial inclusion in Myanmar despite data showing that roughly 10% of the population is in possession of a bank account. How do you plan to achieve this goal and what programmes do you have in place to support this? KBZ Bank recognised that whilst only 10% of the population is banked, 90% of people in Myanmar own a smartphone. Even as the bank with the widest branch network, this made it clear that the future of banking is not in building more branches, but in introducing financial services to wider townships and communities through mobile technology. In October 2018, we launched KBZPay, a mobile wallet that makes purchasing everyday products and managing funds more convenient and secure. With just a smartphone, the app allows customers to carry out everyday transactions that until this point were only provided at a physical branch, such as sending and receiving money from friends and family and paying for bills. As a heavily cash-based economy, what are the challenges in bringing the whole country into the financial system? Going cashless is a lot of work, both for consumers and for businesses, slowing the adoption of cashless platforms and digital payments. This is especially hard as cash is still seen as being more convenient for everyday purchases and paying for services. Digital payments is now working to prove it can be more convenient and trusted than cash. Our aim is simple—make the KBZPay experience better than using cash. Since the introduction of KBZPay, we have
12 ASIAN BANKING AND FINANCE | MARCH 2020
The future of banking is not in building more branches, but in introducing financial services to wider townships and communities through mobile technology.
Soe Ko Ko
expanded its features from connecting friends, family and communities through peer-to-peer transfers, to now connecting them with the digital economy. We have launched QR code payments at over 230,000 merchants, in-app purchases of airtime top-ups, bus tickets, and mobile gaming tokens, and cardless withdrawals from our network of agents, merchants and ATMs. With KBZPay, people no longer need to carry huge denominations of cash and travel hours to their nearest retailers to purchase everyday essentials. Our growth attests to how customers are truly seeing the benefits of this. In just its first year of launch, KBZPay has already grown to over 3.5 million users, onboarded with full e-KYC, with transactions topping US$1.8b in volume. The Central Bank of Myanmar has actively promoted the development of modern and equitable financial industry. This includes the creation of the Financial Inclusion Roadmap and leading a digital services working group. KBZ Bank is executing on this same vision with their support in making financial services more accessible to remote communities. KBZPay is core to this effort as it overcomes the physical and infrastructural limitations, and helps
