The junta has summoned the leaders and chairpersons of all private banks in the country to its nerve center, Naypyitaw, for a “confidential” meeting today to discuss banking issues, according to a letter summoning the bankers.
The chair of the junta-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar, along with the secretary and joint secretary of the junta’s governing body, the State Administration Council – Lieutenant General Aung Lin Dwe and Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, respectively – and the minister for home affairs Lt-Gen Yar Pyae will attend the meeting, according to the letter summoning the bankers.
The letter, which was supposed to have been sent in secret, is instead circulating on social media.
The meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of July 10, the vaguely worded letter says. It does not provide a specific agenda for the meeting, saying instead that banking “issues” will be discussed.
Two banking sector sources confirmed the meeting to The Irrawaddy.
Earlier this month, the junta announced that executives at seven private banks, including Yoma, AYA and UAB, face administrative action for allowing their banks to exceed the central bank’s limit on the amount of housing loans they can extend. Officials at the central bank will be punished as well, for failing to properly supervise the banks, the announcement said.
A few days before the shock announcement, high–profile crony Serge Pun of Yoma Bank was detained. He remains in detention. Other bank owners are reportedly being investigated.
Myanmar has been hit by soaring inflation since the military coup in 2021. The regime’s attempts to cool inflation have failed spectacularly.
Late last year, the regime blamed banks for the country’s currency crisis, accusing bankers of disloyalty. It did not, however, name the banks.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told a press conference in August 2023: “We have been giving great assistance to the banking system so that it does not collapse. Some banks even had to get support from the central bank. But some of them are not so loyal.”
Since the announcement that executives at seven banks face administrative penalties and that some have been detained or interrogated, some individual and corporate customers of banks say they have faced limits on withdrawals from their banks.
A customer of KBZ bank in Yangon’s Thingangyun Township said: “I went to KBZ today to withdraw about 10 million kyats from my special account as I need to use it for medical fees, but it only allowed me to withdraw just 1.5 million kyats per day.”
