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Asia Money 2019 Awards: Best Bank for SMEs & Best Bank for CSR: Asia Money 2019 Best Bank for SMEs

Posted on June 13, 2019

AYA Bank In an emerging economy where an estimated 90 to 95 out of every 100 registered businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Zaw Zaw’s Ayeyarwady Bank wins plaudits from its peers for its lively SME business. AYA’s tactic has been to partner with multilaterals, development finance institutions and aid agencies, providing a leg-up to Myanmar’s emerging small business community.

For example, AYA has teamed up with the state-backed German Investment Corporation (DEG-KfW), as well as the United States Development Credit Agency and Japan’s JICA to identify customers and provide loans with agency support. The French government’s development wing, AFD-Proparco, is also a partner, as is the Asian Development Bank.

Today, SMEs account for 16% of AYA’s total loan book, and the bank expects that level to double by 2022 as Myanmar moves closer to middle-income status.

Asia Money 2019 Best Bank for CSR:
AYA Bank The May tour by English football team Leeds United may not have won Leeds many friends outside Myanmar, its focus was all domestic. The tour was part of AYA’s wider corporate social responsibility efforts during a busy year when it built hospitals and schools and financed ambulances across the country.

Zaw Zaw’s AYA Bank claims to have committed $90 million in CSR efforts since it was founded in 2010. Beyond sorely needed infrastructure, staff are regularly encouraged to donate blood and plant trees. AYA also sponsors disaster management programmes for vulnerable rural areas in the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) river delta region, and it provided financial support for relief camps for flood victims in four stricken townships after recent inundations.