Wave Money adds bank relationships in Myanmar

Myanmar money-transfer operator Wave Money has followed up its decision to enter the B2B market by extending its cooperation with banks.

In addition to working with one of its shareholders, Yoma Bank, Wave Money has added services with Kanbawza Bank (KBZ) and Cooperative Bank (CB Bank). Like Yoma, they are both private commercial banks. Users of Wave Money’s app can transfer money in real time to accounts at these banks.

This helps the startup support its efforts to get small businesses and NGOs use the app to manage payrolls and pay salaries via the app.

CEO Brad Jones said the company views B2B services for salary and bulk disbursements as an extension of its primarily consumer-oriented business. “It’s an effective channel for us to get cash into the system,” he said.

He declined to say how many businesses or NGOs are using the app. Overall, the company, which began operating in August 2016, now has 500,000 customers and 12,500 agents across Myanmar.

Two weeks ago, on October 23, the company introduced open APIs between merchants and their customers, letting stores accept cashless payments from consumers using the Wave Money app. Ten merchants have signed up so far.