Wave Money triples its annual remittance and sees better growth and potential in the mobile financial services (MFS) growth in Myanmar

Wave Money is seeing better growth and potential in the mobile financial services (MFS) space.

The mobile financial services (MFS) company reported annual remittance value of K6.4 trillion for its financial year ended December 31, 2019, which is more than triple the amount remitted in the same period last year. 

The spike came on the back of a doubling in the number of unique customers to 17 million during the period, making it the largest MFS provider in Myanmar, the firm said.

Wave Money’s agent network covers 89 percent of Myanmar. At the end of 2019, there were more than 56,000 agents across 294 out of the 330 townships nationwide. In 2019, Wave Money paid out a total of K55 billion (US$37 million) in agent commissions, which is more than double the amount it paid out the year before. 

The company, which enables remittances, utility payments, phone airtime purchase or top-ups and various other digital payments on its platform, said transaction volumes have been growing at the rate of 70pc per quarter since 2017. 

And the company says growth is expected to continue this year. Last year, Wave Money signed an agreement with METRO Wholesale Myanmar to digitise payments and offer users the option to go cashless in the food retail industry. METRO customers can now utilise the QR feature in the WavePay app to make payments, eliminating the need for physical cash. 

To support the travel and tourism sector of Myanmar, Wave Money partnered with the leading local travel agents Oway and FlyMya in July and November 2019, respectively. Through these partnerships, the firms were able to give travelers easy and convenient travel payment options coupled with attractive discounts on their flight, bus and other travel arrangements. 

This year, Wave Money says it will place a larger focus on the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise space with the aim of bringing a larger proportion of these firms into the digital payments sphere. 

The growing volume of cash transfers requires MFS agents to have sufficient funds in their mobile wallets to avoid cash flow problems.

On this front, Wave Money will collaborate with Yoma Bank to provide unsecured, instant credit to its agents and distributors, allowing them to operate their businesses more productively.

Last week, KBZPay, another MFS provider, also announced new quick access loans for their agentsand merchants to improve their cash flows, as many face issues in facilitating peer-to-peer cash transactions.

The loan will provide KPZPay merchants with a credit injection of K300,000 without the need to provide collateral, guarantors or application fees. Eligible borrowers can increase their credit limit to a maximum of K2.5 million.

Wave Money is a joint venture between Telenor, Yoma Bank and Singapore Exchange listed Yoma Strategic Holdings. Wave Money, in collaboration with Yoma Bank, has disbursed over K73 billion to more than 16,000 agents since November 2018. 

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/wave-money-triples-annual-remittance-sees-continuing-growth-myanmar.html )

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