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.