If the mobile money market were a football match, then the second half has just begun. As the undisputed market leader, Wave Money is already a few goals ahead. It reports having almost 50,000 agents and more than 11 million customers, who remitted US$2.8 billion between January and September of this year. By the end […]
In dirt-poor Myanmar, smartphones are transforming finance
October 19, 2017 by
MYANMAR’S democratic transition sometimes seems marked as much by continuity as by change. Depressingly, the army continues its bloody persecution of Rohingya Muslims in the west, for example (see article). But elsewhere moves to open the country’s markets, started by the preceding military regimes, have gathered pace. New commercial and financial services are springing up. […]
Grab and Wave Money push e-payment
July 6, 2017 by
Taxi service firm Grab and the e-payment platform Wave Money signed an agreement to provide online payment for the taxi service on June 29 in Yangon. Wave Money, the first licensed mobile-money service in the country, has detailed a plan to implement e-money accounts for Grab taxi drivers, moving the cash-based payment towards online transactions. […]
Digitizing Myanmar: How This FinTech Company Helped Cut Local Payments from 5 Hours to 5 Minutes
June 8, 2017 by
“No person in Myanmar, no consumer, would probably know who CNP is,” says Patrick Kershaw, the CEO of ConnectNPay (CNP), a fintech company that built the digital financial infrastructure now enabling locals to pay their utility bills and taxes online in Myanmar. “They have no idea, and they don’t need to,” he continues. Instead, says […]
The land of the $20 smartphone
March 31, 2017 by
“This one $40, this one $30 … that one $20!” The owner of the street stall, a man of about 30 years wearing a traditional longyi tied around his waist, is gesturing at a phone that looks, to my eyes, like a mid-range Android phone. It bears the brand Singtech, a brand among myriad others […]
Can mobile technology bring Myanmar in line with other Asean nations
May 12, 2016 by
Myanmar’s central bank has released additional rules on mobile financial services that lay the foundation for efficient and secure mobile financial services in Myanmar. While most of the Association of Southeastern Asian Nation (Asean) region adopts online and mobile banking, Myanmar remains almost completely cash dependent, with most salaries still paid in cash. According to […]
Telenor and Yoma Bank test mobile money service
November 17, 2015 by
The link-up, called Wave Money, will allow customers to transfer and receive money through local storefronts called “Wave Shops”, according to its new Facebook page. Myanmar has overhauled its telecommunications industry, liberalising the market to include two new foreign operators, but mass adoption of mobile payment systems has remained out of reach so far – […]
