Yangon, Myanmar, 12 November 2020 – CB Bank and Grab have jointly been awarded a prestigious accolade for “End-to-End Integrated Cash Management and Banking Solution” at The Asian Banker: Bankers’ Choice Awards 2020. This award serves as recognition of how collaboration between banks and their corporate partners in Myanmar can drive financial inclusion and bring positive impact to the lives of people in the country.

CB Bank has worked closely with Grab since 2017, when the technology company offering ride-hailing transport services, food delivery and grocery delivery solutions commenced operations in Myanmar. Together, CB Bank and Grab have opened thousands of bank accounts and activated mobile banking accounts for thousands of Grab’s driver and delivery-partners. This meant many in major cities such as Yangon and Mandalay benefitted from financial inclusion as they opened their first bank accounts and accessed mobile banking services for the first time. As the partnership evolved, CB Bank and Grab successfully implemented API Integration, enabling Grab’s driver and delivery-partners to instantly transfer earnings into their bank accounts without any processing delay.

“Grab is a key partner of CB Bank. We are incredibly proud and humbled to receive this prestigious recognition with Grab. We have invested considerable resources to promote financial inclusion and digital literacy right in the heart of Yangon and Mandalay, and enable thousands of Grab’s driver and delivery-partners to access our formal banking platform in a short period of time.

“Working with Grab marks a major milestone for CB Bank as we were able to successfully accommodate the requirements of a large tech company in the ASEAN region. This joint initiative is in line with CB Bank’s vision of offering banking as a financial and technology platform through our ecosystems banking strategy. We believe that banks cannot exist alone in this technology-driven era of the 21^st century. Banks need technology capability when it comes to collaborating with ecosystem players. For CB Bank, this has been our primary focus since the country has reopened its economy to the global market in 2010. This award proves our commitment to go beyond boundaries since the project’s success depended on the trust and dedication of both partners. We look forward to further collaboration and realising new synergies with Grab,” said U Thein Zaw Tun, Managing Director – Business, CB Bank.

“It is an honour that our work with CB Bank to extend mobile financial services among Grab driver and delivery-partners in Myanmar has been recognised on the international stage with this prestigious award. Together, we have brought tens of thousands of Grab driver-partners into the formal banking system, enabling them to enjoy greater financial security, convenience and flexibility. A core component of Grab’s mission in Myanmar is to solve challenges and unlock economic potential using technology. It is a source of great pride that we have been able to achieve this for our valued Grab driver-partners,” said Cindy Toh, Country Head, Grab Myanmar.

The Bankers’ Choice Awards program was formed in 2012 to recognize and evaluate bank and client partnerships, and how banks add value to the changing needs of corporates. The Asian Banker: Banker Choice Awards is based on benchmarking methodology, involving extensive surveys, interviews, and third-party assessment of financial institutions around the world.