German development agency GIZ has selected three local banks in a bid to finance the small and medium enterprises in Myanmar, according to officials from the organisation.
The selected banks – Small and Medium Industrial Development Bank (SMIDB), Kanbawza Bank (KBZ) and Yoma Bank – will be assisted in providing SMEs with financial solution as an initial step.
Bernd Kuzmits, regional director of Germany's Division for Technical Cooperation Instruments at Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said, “We aim for financial stability and sustainable development of Myanmar. Especially, SMEs need necessary financial assistance.”
In addition, he also said cooperation has to be made at the national level to improve the standards of banking and financial training institutions.
“All relevant parties must to able to understand and practice international banking standards in Myanmar and to be able to establish proper regulations and practices in the banking sector,” he said.
Thomas Foerch, officer of the GIZ financial development project, said that they chose those banks in a transparent manner since those banks match international banking standards and are able to target small and medium sized firms. He added that assistance provided by those banks would be a major step towards the development of the banking sector.
Cooperation with these banks would begin towards the end of 2016, and other banks will be selected and included after 2016.
