Visa recently announced the opening of the Myanmar market to ATM and POS acceptance through their licensing agreements with Co-operative Bank, Kanbawza Bank, and Myanmar Overseas Bank. This represents significant progress for Myanmar’s electronic payments infrastructure as it provides the country with a platform to participate in the global financial system. By joining the Visa network, the banks agree to adopt Visa’s global security standards for electronic payment. Bringing the Myanmar banks into the network quickly and efficiently was accomplished through each of the Visa bank partners subscribing to a Visa managed service solution that allowed them to quickly activate their systems to support the needs of inbound business travelers and tourists alike. “Visa card acceptance for ATM and point-of-sale transactions in Myanmar are operating well. As part of our ongoing commitment and partnership with local banks, we are working together to improve efficiency in operations and services,” said Somboon Krobteeranon, Visa Country Manager, Myanmar and Thailand. Phillip Kumnick, Visa’s Head of Global Acquirer Processing, said: “Working with each bank we were able to deliver the processing solutions needed to operate their ATM and merchant acquiring systems through a Visa managed service. For the core technology and operating systems we are working with Planet Payment (USA: NASDAQ: PLPM; UK: LSE: AIM: PPT). Our service now connects the Myanmar banks’ ATMs and POS machines to Visa managed services, and manages the complexities of cross border processing acquiring services.” Philip Beck, Chairman and CEO of Planet Payment, said: “Planet Payment’s single proprietary processing platform enables the delivery of payment solutions that can be tailored quickly to meet the requirements of a particular market. Visa and Planet Payment share the vision that payments have the power to improve the way business is done. We are very excited to be working together in Myanmar and we continue to work together on opportunities to deliver innovative payment solutions to banks, merchants and consumers in other developing economies.” “As Myanmar continues its journey toward full international reintegration, there will be more opportunities to extend the reach and scope of electronic payments in the market. We look forward to working with the government, central bank, financial institutions and merchant community to grow electronic payments in the country,” added Krobteeranon. As a result of the recent success in Myanmar, Visa and Planet Payment are working on opportunities to target the deployment of the managed service to additional developing markets in support of traditional ATM and POS acceptance as well as developing support for mobile point of sale (mPOS). As more and more merchants look to capitalize on the value of accepting electronic payments, Visa stands ready to help its client banks support growing the financial network, expand on its financial inclusion goals, and partner to develop their payments systems.
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