Cash is the “biggest competitor” for mobile transaction venture Wave Money as it seeks to overcome Myanmar’s aversion to non-physical money, CEO Brad Jones has said.
The entire industry will benefit from increased consumer awareness when new entrants begin offering alternatives to Wave Money, he added.
Qatar-based telco operator Ooredoo is looking to launch its own mobile financial services, while a fourth telecoms operator is scheduled to enter Myanmar this year.
“The biggest competitor we have right now in Myanmar is cash,” Jones told Myanmar Business Today. “Until we get a situation where the majority of unbanked Myanmar adults are using mobile money… we’ll all be trying to convince them to move out of cash and into digital money.”
Wave Money, a mobile money provider backed by Norwegian telecoms provider Telenor and local lender Yoma Bankwas the first international service provider to launch under fresh regulations released by the CBM in March last year.
While Wave Money has amassed over 250,000 customers and has seen month on month growth since it began operations in August last year, a lack of financial education amongst consumers has proven the largest obstacle so far.
“Mobile money is a category that doesn’t really exist yet, consumer education is really our number one challenge,” said Jones.
“When the other operators come in, I think we’ll see the overall sector increase because there’ll be two or three other operators all educating the market.”
He added that rogue mobile financial service operators pose a risk to Myanmar’s mobile money industry unless the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) can enforce regulations.
The country’s nascent mobile money industry is considered an essential component of the government achieving its target of getting 40 percent of the population to use financial services by the year 2020.
But without strong oversight, said Jones, the industry stands to loose the trust of consumers.
“We’re compliant to regulations and to international best practice, so customers’ money is always safe with us. That isn’t necessarily the case with other providers,” said Jones.
“If there’s some sort of failure or if there’s a loss of customer trust in the system, it will impact everyone in the sector.”
Jones says that the new regulations which enable international companies to offer mobile financial services was a ‘very big move’ by the government but now it’s up to the central bank to ensure people comply with them.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
