Four firms out of eight consulting subsidiaries in Myanmar have submitted Requests for Proposal to provide consultation services for the selection of foreign banks. The RFPs were invited as the Central Bank of Myanmar is moving forward with the liberalization process.
Following the announcement inviting RFPs, Deloitte Touche Myanmar Vigour Advisory Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Myanmar Co Ltd, EY UTW Advisory Limited, and Roland Berger Co Ltd submitted their requests for proposal to the Foreign Bank Selection Group on 24 June.
One of the firms will be selected soon based on a 15-point criteria set by the Foreign Bank Selection Group, and the final selection will be submitted at the upcoming meeting of the group.
At present, foreign banks can provide only corporate banking services in the country, and they have been restricted from providing retail banking services and direct lending to the public. They are not allowed to take immovable assets as collateral. Financing instruments include opening letter of credit, bill discount, and bill purchase. Lenders offer loans against fixed deposits.
The 13 foreign bank branches that have been permitted by the Central Bank of Myanmar so far are MUFG Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, United Overseas Bank Limited, Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), Mizuho Bank Limited, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Shinhan Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank Limited, and the State Bank of India.
The CBM has been working to open up the banking sector. It granted licences to the first nine foreign bank branches in 2015, four licenses in 2016, and more licenses are expected to be granted this year.
Source: GNLM
