As such, banking officials and financial technology firms believe that Myanmar would see significant developments of such payment systems over the next two years.

Recently, Visa country manager Ms. Lillian Wang said a poll from 2018 showed that a quarter of 500 respondents preferred digital modes of payment compared to a similar poll conducted in 2017 that saw only 3pc of respondents preferring digital modes of payment.

“Digital payment usage has gained momentum in recent years and there are significant changes and developments coming in the years ahead. We see payments using cash being reduced significantly as banks, other financial institutions, the government and ordinary people adopt digital transactions,” she said.

The rising demand for convenience has seen banks and their partners offering more digital transaction services, with KBZ Bank launching KBZPay, a mobile wallet application, late last year. This app crossed more than a million downloads earlier this year and has since reached more than two million.

“We expect nearly four million downloads of the app by the end of this year,” KBZ’s general manager for agent banking U Soe Ko Ko told The Myanmar Times.

He said the convenience of not having to physically withdraw money motivates more people to use the app.

U Soe Ko Ko noted though, that despite the increase in adoption, the different digital platforms available made it difficult to predict whether transactions through cards, mobile or QR code systems would become more popular.

A recent Visa survey revealed that people were more interested in contactless payment and point-of-sales terminal systems rather the use of cards into slots.

Visa this week published findings from its Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, which examines the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours Myanmar people have towards payment and emerging payment methods. It was based on face-to-face interviews of 504 people across Yangon, Pathein, Mandalay and Magway last September.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they now own bank accounts, compared to 34pc last year. Further to this, 70pc of those surveyed who are currently without a bank account plan to open one this year.

It also found a significant increase in use and interest in owning payment cards, such as prepaid and credit cards. Currently, 26pc of people surveyed use or own payment cards, compared to only 3pc in the previous year. Seven in 10 people said they plan to own payment cards compared to only two in ten people in the previous year.

Meanwhile, one in four people surveyed have tried going cashless and all of the people surveyed believed Myanmar has the potential to become a cashless society within the next 15 years or less.

Myanmar people are also interested in using emerging forms of payment, such as contactless payments – whereby people can make payments by tapping their payment card or phone on point of sales terminal, instead of swiping or inserting their cards. Nearly half of the respondents said they would like to use this model of payment.

“Different systems appeal to different markets. It will be a matter of time to see which of these digital systems will appeal to people in Myanmar. If people find it convenient to use a particular platform, the adoption rate will rise rapidly,” Ms Wang said.

Daw Pann Ma Ma, finance director of Mahar Bawga Finance, said the country’s financial services have improved and digital forms of transactions will contribute greatly to making business operations more efficient.

“Besides lower fees and costs, there will be more efficient operations as money will not have to be counted nor moved physically from one bank to another when loans need to be repaid,” she said.

Recently, Shanghai-based UnionPay International launched a guidebook on cashless transactions, including for QR codes. The Central Bank of Myanmar said payments using QR codes could be launched this year when a standard for such payments has been implemented. – Translated

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/electronic-cash-transactions-expected-surge-over-next-two-years.html