Bangkok-based fintech company TrueMoney has launched a funds transfer service that aims to capitalise on the millions of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand who need to send money home.
The launch of TrueMoney Myanmar and its funds transfer service, TrueMoney Transfer, was announced by TrueMoney, a subsidiary of the Thailand-based Ascend Group, in a statement on October 13.
It said TrueMoney Transfer, Myanmar’s first international money transfer service, would enable the country’s migrant workers in Thailand to make real-time remittances “that significantly reduce the expense and risks associated with sending money to family back home”.
By year’s end there would be 250 locations in Thailand and 681 in Myanmar where senders using a password would be able to transfer funds for a transaction fee starting at THB50 (about K1,846), TrueMoney said.
“TrueMoney Transfer will deeply change the lives of millions of hard-working people who do not have access to proper banking services,” said U Lawt Aung, senior product executive at TrueMoney.
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He said the 681 TrueMoney Transfer sites in Myanmar covered most migrant workers’ hometowns, including Yangon and Bago, and in Shan and Kayin states and Tanintharyi Region.
The 250 transfer sites in Thailand would be concentrated in areas with large populations of Myanmar migrant workers, including Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakarn, Tak, Ranong, Kanchanaburi and Phuket, Lawt Aung said.
Daw San Thaw Da Wun, country director of TrueMoney Myanmar, said transferring money had become a crucial need for Myanmar migrants and their families.
“However, a large number of Myanmar workers remain unbanked, due to a variety of reasons such as, but not limited to, legal status, language barrier and access to banking services. We have developed TrueMoney Transfer to give a faster, safer, more secured and affordable alternative to the commonly used informal channels,” she said.
TrueMoney Myanmar, with offices in Yangon and Mandalay and a national network of 3,000 agents, will also offer bill payment, mobile top-up and cash collection services, the statement said.
