News

Myanmar plans to expand ATM network nationwide

May 30, 2012

Since the installation last November of Myanmar's first new ATM in eight years and the reactivation of the rest of the nation's ATMs, the military-run country has rushed to embrace the restored technology.

According to a Reuters report, something like an ATM revolution is underway, in which citizens now carry a thin plastic card, rather than hauling sacks of cash to the bank.

Initially, private banks took the lead in the ATM network boot-up, but now the company's central bank is planning a nationwide ATM network deployment sometime in the next few months, Reuters said. The national initiative will create a shared online network and enable a wider range of services at ATMs.

Additionally the Myanmar government is in talks with MasterCard and Visa to implement international banking in the next year. The talks come in anticipation of an easing by the U.S. administration of sanctions against Myanmar banks, Reuters said.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar public is enjoying renewed access to ATMs. "It is far easier than using cash," Naing Lin Oo, a computer engineer who was withdrawing cash at an ATM outside a new mall, told Reuters. "But we really need to see more of these [ATMs]."

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