Kanbawza Bank ( my, ကမ္ဘောဇဘဏ်; abbreviated as KBZ Bank) is a private commercial bank in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. The bank was established on 1 July 1994 in

Taunggyi Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth lar ...

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

. KBZ Bank shares the same brand as a number of companies in Myanmar but is separate and independent of those companies. Kanbawza Group is a brand founded by

Aung Ko Win Tharay Sithu Aung Ko Win ( my, အောင်ကိုဝင်း; also known as Saya Kyaung) is a Burmese business tycoon and former school teacher. He owns several businesses in Myanmar under the Kanbawza (KBZ) brand in the finance, agricu ...

to share the KBZ name across industries.

History

Launch of KBZPay

In October 2018, KBZ Bank launched KBZPay, a mobile wallet platform that allows individuals, merchants and businesses access to the financial system and Myanmar’s emerging digital economy. Aside from storing money, KBZPay app allows customers to make cashless transactions, send and receive money, and withdraw physical cash through authorised agents, merchants and ATMs, at zero to low cost, without a card, across the country. Most recently, the platform was boosted by the introduction of shopper and personal loans, digital life insurance, and a donation function, which allows people to donate to charities within a single platform. The app, which is available for download across the country, recently crossed the 6 million downloads mark in August 2020, with more than USD 9 billion in transactions facilitated.

COVID-19 relief contributions

In March 2020, KBZ Bank donated nearly US$1 million to Myanmar’s health ministry to combat COVID-19. The bank also donated 600,000 surgical masks and 3,000 sets of PPE. The bank increased the supply of bank notes by tenfold in all of its 500 branches and 2,200 ATMs, while also doubling withdrawal limits for its customers. To ease the financial impact of COVID-19 on businesses and households, financial relief programs were also established, including rescheduling repayments for mortgages, reducing interest rates on loans in-line with Central Bank recommendations, and tailoring loans for specific groups, such as rural farmers.

2021 protests

In the aftermath of the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

, civil resistance efforts emerged in the country. On 8 February, Kanbawza Bank temporarily closed its branches due to staffing shortages resulting from KBZ staff participating in the civil disobedience campaign.

References

External links

Kanbawza Bank Limited (KBZ)
Official site Banks of Myanmar Banks established in 1994 1994 establishments in Myanmar {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanbawza Bank