SBI becomes 1st domestic bank to open branch in Myanmar

October 4, 2016 •
The State Bank of India announced its entry
into Myanmar by opening a branch in the
capital city of Yangon, becoming the first
domestic lender to do so.
The Yangon branch is the 54th foreign
branch of the nation's largest lender,
chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, who
opened the office. This branch extends the
global presence of SBI in 37 countries
through 198 offices, she said.
Bhattacharya, who became the first
chairman to get a second term at SBI last
Saturday, said: "SBI has been associated
with Myanmar since 1861, when the
erstwhile Bank of Bengal operated its
branch in the then Rangoon. Later, as part
of bank nationalisation, the operations of
the Rangoon branch of SBI were taken over
by the Peoples' Bank of Burma in February
1963."
The Myanmarese central bank earlier this
year allowed SBI to open a branch with the
primary objective of extending wholesale
banking services to foreign corporates.