Card Companies Try to Conquer Myanmar

A year ago, Myanmar had no automated teller machines linked to international networks and not a single hotel or restaurant able to swipe credit cards. The throngs of foreigners arriving in the newly opened country had to bring crisp U.S. dollars to pay for everything. Today, Myanmar has 2,500 machines that process credit card payments, known as payment terminals, and 450 ATMs, including at least three at the gates of Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda, a popular tourist attraction, according to Kanbawza Bank, the largest privately owned bank in Myanmar. There’s a long way to go. While “the absolute need to carry bags of cash is declining, Myanmar remains a cash economy,” says Matt Davies, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief to the country. “It takes time for practices to change.”

Visa and MasterCard are working to speed the transition. Since September 2012, MasterCard has signed up nine banks to issue its cards. The company says those banks have installed payment terminals at 491 merchants, including the Strand and Governor’s Residence hotels in Yangon, the financial capital. About 210 ATMs also accept MasterCard for cash withdrawals. Visa says it has licensed eight banks to issue its cards, and they’ve signed up more than 600 merchants, including hotels, restaurants, airlines, and retailers, and installed more than 200 ATMs.