A major Thai bank may soon be a 35 percent stakeholder in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwaddy Farmers Development Bank in the deepening financial relationship between the two countries.

The Kasikorn Bank, or KBank, Thailand’s fourth largest financial institution, has submitted an official application to the Central Bank of Myanmar for the investment, made possible by a new law that allows foreign companies to invest in Myanmar financial institutions. Both KBank and A Bank were set up for the agriculture industry and specialize in agricultural financing. Both have espoused the new opportunities for trade and cross-border financing that the investment would bring. The application came only a week after another Thai-Myanmar bank duo, Ayeyarwady Bank and Siam Commercial Bank, signed an MOU to facilitate trade between the two countries.

These actions are the latest in a series of steps to improve Myanmar-Thai trade relations. Last year, a new Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge opened at Myawaddy town, where the majority of legitimate cross-border trade occurs. Officials from Myanmar and Thailand also agreed to support the use of both Kyat and Thai Baht in border trade, which has hitherto relied on the USD as the currency of choice.