Managing director Win Min Khine said mobile banking was developed as an agent-based model where customers can open their own mobile wallet accounts at any agent’s outlets without going to the bank.
“We are aiming to expand our agent network significantly in the months ahead so that everyone who has a mobile phone can tap into our services,” he said.
“Fewer than 20 per cent of Myanmar’s population have bank accounts, which is very low compared to our neighbouring countries.
“Our vision is to make financial services accessible to every citizen with a phone even in the furthest reaches of the country with limited access to banking.”
The bank’s service is working on all kinds of phones, whether smartphones or low-cost keypad feature phones.
The bank has about 1,000 agents and over 10,000 users. The number of agents will be doubled by |the end of this year and increased to more than 10,000 in three years.
With the agents or at the bank’s branches, individuals can install an app to open a mobile banking account.
They can start making transactions right after making deposits to the accounts.
Through the accounts, they can check their balances, pay bills and make payments at supermarkets and convenience stores.
Wong Hok Siong, head of mobile banking, noted that to achieve |a nationwide presence, the bank |has urged main agents to build|their networks, particularly in locations where the bank has no presence.
“We do want to increase our density of agents. We believe in quality agents rather than quantity,” he said.
The app supports three languages – Myanmar, English and Chinese. It was completed with thorough research and is in line with customer feedback.
Customers are also assured of security, with the assistance of a mobile sim tag, which uses AES (advanced encryption standard) 256 secure data encryption.
“With our mobile bank, it is now very easy for users to pay electricity bills or transfer money to others with just a few clicks on a phone without having to spend a long time figuring out how to do it.
“Our data had indicated that money transfer is the top service being utilised as it can be made by account holders to anyone, even to non-MAB customers,” he said.
More electronic services would be launched in the near future, he said.
Among services provided by banks now are phone top-ups, bill payments and payments for air and cinema tickets.

However, officials said there was no guarantee the megaproject would actually select all cement producers to be suppliers.
Vangvieng Cement Plant deputy director Chanthay Vongnakhone told the press on Saturday that its three plants at Vangvieng were quite capable of supplying enough cement.
The plant has already increased output in terms of quality and quantity, hoping to receive an order from the soon-to-commence rail project.
Daily output has grown from 1,200 tonnes to 4,900 tonnes since the completion of Lao Vangvieng Cement Plant No 3.
“If all three cement plants are not chosen for the Laos-China rail project, they will not operate at full capacity, especially the new No 3 plant,” he said.
This plant can produce 3,500 tonnes of cement a day, but only about 500 tonnes or 800 tonnes a day are being sold.
This means the plant is producing cement only one day a week.
Chanthay said he was still waiting for more details on the Laos-China rail project and whether they would use cement from the Vangvieng plants.
An official from Plant No 3, Sisomphou Kongpalun, said the plant uses the latest technology from China, so the quality and quantity are sufficient for large projects such as the Laos-China railway.
There are 15 cement plants across the country, but the new Lao Vangvieng Cement Plant No 3 is the biggest.
Officials estimate that as many as 100,000 workers were needed for the Laos-China railway throughout its five years of construction.
The US$6.04 billion (Bt211 billion) project has several components and requires workers with varying skills.
The Lao and Chinese governments took part in a ground-breaking ceremony on December 2 in Vientiane for the 427-kilometre railway, which will connect the Lao capital to the Chinese border in the northern part of the country.
The Laos-China joint venture is split 30-70.

Dato Paduka Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah said that a number of potential Chinese investors from Guangxi will be visiting Brunei soon as part of a follow-up from their visit to Guangxi a few months ago.
“The next few months is going to be quite intense,” the chairman said in brief comments to The Brunei Times. BEDB is the primary agency dedicated to attracting foreign direct investment into Brunei.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, known as an important gateway between China and Asean, has set up a joint-agreement with Brunei to establish the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor which aims to see over $500 million worth in joint investments.
“There are a number of interesting projects we are looking at so hopefully we will be able to attract them to come and invest in Brunei,” said Dato Hj Mohd Amin, who is also the Deputy Minister of Finance.
He added that they will also be following up with a Brunei delegation heading to the China-Asean Expo at the end of September, which is also being held at Guangxi.
In his opening remarks during the inauguration of the Chinese Enterprise Association in Brunei (CEAB) yesterday, Dato Hj Mohd Amin highlighted that they see great potential to attract more investments from Chinese companies as China continues to provide support and incentives for those companies to invest overseas.
One such initiative was the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. “As one of the countries along the maritime silk road, we will work closely with our Chinese partners to use Brunei as a central point of the BIMP-EAGA region to build connectivity between the two countries,” he said.
The chairman yesterday said that they will also continue to work with their Chinese partners to make use of Brunei as a center for the consolidation of raw materials in the region and also as a centre for manufacturing and distribution of products to the regional countries.
“There are also many more opportunities in the areas of Halal production, ICT and agriculture and tourism which we hope our Chinese partners will continue to explore in Brunei.”

BCorp hopes the game with a minimum 12 billion dong (Bt18.9 million) jackpot will excite a new generation of Vietnamese lottery players as well as create a more convenient lottery solution for existing players.
“Within the first month of operations, 800 point-of-sale terminals for Mega 6/45 tickets will be available throughout Ho Chi Minh City with some 10,000 POS terminals planned nationwide within five years,” it said in a statement at the launch of the lottery operations at Independence Palace.
BCorp chairman and CEO Robin Tan said BCorp has established a partnership via a business cooperation contract with Vietnam Computerised Lottery One Member Company (Vietlott), which was tasked with modernising the Vietnamese lottery industry, to set up Berjaya Gia Thinh Investment Technology Joint Stock Company.
“As a major player in the computerised lottery industry in Malaysia, we are delighted to be the exclusive partner of Vietlott to implement the first ever nationwide self-selected computerised lottery project in Vietnam.
“This project also holds great significance for us, as it has strengthened the social and economic ties between our two countries,” he said.
“The reliability and integrity of a computerised lottery system will also assist the government in combating illegal lottery gaming operations,” he added.
In January, BCorp and Berjaya Sports Toto (BToto) said the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment had issued an investment registration certificate to BCorp and Vietlott to certify an exclusive 18-year contract awarded to invest in and operate a nationwide computerised lottery in Vietnam.
The $210.58 million (Bt7.4 billion) project, which is over 18 years, is carried out by Berjaya GTI, a Vietnamese company that is 51 per cent owned by Berjaya Lottery Vietnam.
BLV is 80 per cent owned by BCorp and 20 per cent by BToto.
Vietlott is a 100-per-cent state-owned enterprise under the Vietnamese Finance Ministry and is the only enterprise permitted under Vietnamese law to conduct a computerised lottery business in the entire territory of Vietnam.
With more than 30 years of experience in the gaming industry via BToto, BCorp is well positioned to establish a strong presence in the Vietnam gaming industry.
Other gaming-related companies under Berjaya Group are Sports Toto Malaysia and Natural Avenue in Malaysia, Berjaya Philippines Inc in the Philippines and International Lottery and Totalisator Systems Inc in the US, which provides computerised wagering equipment, systems and software to the online lottery and pari-mutuel racing industries worldwide.