SEOUL, KOREA - The seven Korean banks with offices in Myanmar are looking forward to doing full-fledged business in the Southeast Asian country newly opening up to the world. That's because the Central Bank of Myanmar will give out a license do do business in the country to one of the seven banks within the end of this year.

 

According to the Financial Services Commission on January 15, the central bank of Myanmar intends to grant licenses to do business or allow foreign banks to establish joint ventures as part of its plan to open the financial market to foreign operators in stages. Currently there are 34 foreign bank offices from 15 countries including Britain, China, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as Korea. All these banks are not allowed to do local business and thus exist in the form of office. 

 

A Financial Services Commission official said, "As far as we know, the first round of market opening will involve giving a total of five licenses, to one bank for each country. It remains to be seen whether the banking authorities will give permissions to do local banking business or open joint ventures." Some foreign bank executives predict the beneficiaries would be one western bank and four Asian bank offices.