Financial blockchain firm Everex has announced a new partnership with Myanmar’s Shwe Urban & Rural Development Bank, a mid-tier challenger bank, to provide blockchain-powered digital remittance services between Myanmar and Thailand.
This partnership will enable millions of Myanmar migrant workers living in Thailand to send money home instantly and securely at much lower transaction costs than traditional remittance methods. Funds will be transferred via Everex’s digital remittance platform.
Everex’s remittance platform is the first of its kind to use blockchain technology to eliminate high remittance fees, reduce money transfer time to under a minute and provide a clear audit trail of the entire transaction.
Everex’s technology is expected to increase the financial inclusion of Myanmar’s unbanked population. The UN Migration Agency estimated that about three million Myanmar migrant workers live in Thailand; most send money to their home country through informal money-agent networks to avoid the hefty fees that come with traditional remittance services. While their services are inexpensive, these money agents are unregulated and sometimes take advantage of migrant workers by lending them money at very high interest rates.
“Myanmar people working in Thailand are foreign currency earners of our country, and their hard-earned money is at risk when they send it home via informal channels,” said U Thein Zaw, Shwe Bank’s Executive Vice Chairman. “Shwe Bank and Everex have partnered to offer faster, less expensive and, most importantly, safer money transfers using Everex’s digital remittance platform. I look forward to working with Everex and expect this technology to greatly improve financial inclusion for Myanmar migrant workers.”
Everex and Shwe Bank are currently building the operations of the new service. Following the launch of the remittance platform in the Myanmar-Thailand corridor, the service is scheduled to be expanded to other Asian countries.
“Our agreement with Shwe Bank will create an important strategic partnership in the money-transfer industry, strengthening both companies’ exposure within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market,” said Alexi Lane, founder, and CEO of Everex. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to work with Shwe Bank in facilitating cross-border remittances for the Thailand /Myanmar corridor, which will enable Myanmar migrant workers to send money back home using our digital remittance platform.”
