Daw Than Than Swe, Chairman of the Central Bank, has put pressure on Hundi financial services, which do not have an official license to operate foreign currency transfers, to apply for the license.

On November 5, the Chairman of the Central Bank met with businessmen from Tachileik and Muse in the China-Myanmar border region in Nay Pyi Taw and gave directives at an awareness-raising campaign on official licenses and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism.

In that discussion, the chairman of the Central Bank explained about the currency exchange programs on Baht-Kyat and Yuan-Kyats that are allowed in the border areas, and sought an official license for the Hundi services.

The director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department of the CBM presented foreign remittance licenses and work licenses for foreign exchange.

The central bank’s reference price for the exchange rate was 2,100 kyats, but the foreign exchange rate in the open market remained at 3,000 kyats per US dollar in the 22 months following the military takeover.

The CBM Chairman, Daw Than Than Swe, discussed the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing initiatives as well as the risks of remittances during the meeting.

The international money-laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced on October 21 that Myanmar has been placed on the blacklist for failing to address a large number of strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist-financing systems.

The regime’s central bank announced on October 22 that it is preparing to delist from the blacklist as soon as possible, and has drawn up the procedures to be carried out within the next year.