From carrying wads of cash to mobile money

Yangon

CARRYING her wages in wads of cash across Myanmar was once a risky, onerous but unavoidable ritual for maid Khin Myint Oo.

But now, she just pings off a text to move the money to her children back home as mobile banking sweeps into a country whose people have for decades been locked out of basic financial services.

Myanmar is spinning through a thrilling economic revival since shedding junta rule in 2011.

But with an embryonic banking system - an estimated 90 per cent of the population still do not have an account - the country's new civilian leaders are banking on mobile money as a shortcut.

"People keep money in their homes in a box," explained Khin Myint Oo, who moved to Myanmar's …