Korean finance bank KB Bank will launch its Myanmar subsidiary (KB Bank Myanmar) next month. KB Bank Myanmar will be KB Financial Services’ third Myanmar business. The other two are KB Kookmin Card and KB Microfinance, which have operated since 2017. KB Bank Myanmar will sell financial products and services, including personal financing and financing of small and medium enterprises, according to the Myanmar Times. In April, the Central Bank of Myanmar awarded operation licenses to seven foreign-owned companies. KB Bank follows Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand’s largest bank, which launched in October.
KB Bank Myanmar is another sign that foreign financials are taking full advantage of Myanmar’s gradual opening of its banking sectors. The move to grant operating licenses to foreign firms followed an earlier rule change that allowed foreign companies to own minority shares in Myanmar banks. Among the new foreign investors are Singaporean sovereign wealth firm GIC Pte and Norwegian firm Norfund AS, which invested in Yoma Bank in January. In the same month, Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank acquired a 35% stake in Ayeyarwaddy Farmer’s Development Bank.
