VisionFund Myanmar, a microfinance institution (MFI) operating within the nonprofit VisionFund International, is partnering with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) on a USD 1.7 million project to expand mobile banking in Myanmar. The effort is intended to provide customers with mobile wallets and other digital financial products in partnership with unspecified telecom operators. This will add airtime top-up, remittances and bill payment to the menu of services that VisionFund Myanmar offers. The MFI already offers loans, savings and insurance. The new program also includes financial and digital literacy components.
Tim Tempany, the program and strategy director of VisionFund Myanmar, said, “Our proposed partnership with major telecom operators will allow us to extend the access and availability of financial products and services to clients in places that have been very hard to reach using traditional banking methods.”
The 11 MFIs in Myanmar that report data to the US-based Microfinance Information Exchange have an aggregate loan portfolio of USD 389 million outstanding to 1.8 million borrowers and savings of USD 88 million held for 2.6 million depositors. The population of Myanmar is approximately 56 million.
VisionFund Myanmar was founded in 2015 and serves 190,000 people via 51 service locations as of 2019. VisionFund International operates in 29 countries with total assets of USD 688 million and a gross loan portfolio of USD 494 million outstanding to 1.1 million borrowers. VisionFund International is owned by World Vision, a US-based Christian relief and development organization. As of year-end 2018, World Vision has total assets of USD 303 million and annual operating revenue of USD 1.06 billion.
Formed in 1997, DFID is the unit of the UK government responsible for carrying out overseas development work. Its main spending areas are health, economic growth, education, humanitarian assistance, and government & civil society. During 2018, DFID disbursed GBP 10.9 billion (USD 13.6 billion) in official development aid.
By Eugene DeCosse, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Myanmar Times press release
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/uk-invests-us17m-myanmar-mobile-banking-services.html
VisionFund Myanmar webpage
http://www.visionfund.org/2101/where/asia-pacific/myanmar/
VisionFund International homepage
http://www.visionfund.org/
VisionFund International financial statements
http://www.visionfund.org/2150/documents-and-reports/media/
World Vision homepage
https://www.worldvision.org/
World Vision financial statements
https://www.worldvision.org/about-us/financial-accountability-2
Department for International Development webpage
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development
Department for International Development statistics
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about/statistics
US Central Intelligence Agency profile on Myanmar
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html
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