Myanmar government is drafting a legislation to allow joint ventures between international banks and their local partners, according to the local newspaper Daily Eleven which cited finance and revenue minister Dr Maung Maung Thein.
He said the government would try to get the bill approved by the parliament and enacted by the end of this year.
The minister also said that the international banks that have already established their presence with representative offices would be given precedence in granting the joint ventures.
According to the report, US, Japanese and European banks are in talks with local banks for JV deals.
The lower house committee overseeing banking industry in Myanmar also hinted that it would legislate the joint ventures between local and international banks.
“We have planned to allow joint ventures between banks in Myanmar and foreign banks,” Pyo Min Thein, a member of lower house banks and monetary development, told Daily Eleven.
He is a member of National League for Democracy, the major opposition group led by Nobel laureate democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Currently there have been 40 country offices opened by the international banks in Myanmar and there are 20 Myanmar private banks in operation.
In a separate development, the parliament recently ratified a long-awaited central bank law that make it an independent body from the ministry of finance and revenue.