By building financial skills, knowledge and access, the CUD Program increased the financial inclusion and health of 6,174 direct beneficiaries, and 23 CUs have reached financial and operational sustainability.

The updated Myanmar Financial Inclusion Roadmap 2019 – 2023 is the nation’s highest-level financial inclusion policy document. The vision of the Roadmap is to increase formal financial inclusion through a range of affordable, high quality and effective financial services. The Roadmap’s proposed interventions include increased access to finance for the low -income segment and exploiting the potential of digital financial services (DFSs). Mobile subscription rate dramatically increased from 15 per cent of the population in 2013 to 93 per cent in 2018.

To align with national development objectives and leverage the high use of phones, Cufa has decided to pivot the CUD Program to design and implement the DigiCUD Project. The Project will capitalize on the success of the already established 23 CUs by digitising their operations with the aim of increasing financial inclusion by firstly, increasing their current membership base, and secondly, increasing reach to an additional 90 Taik Kyi Township villages across two years.

Cufa has partnered with Bank Genie to digitalize the operations and savings and loan products of the 23 already established CUs from the current paper-based banking system to the BanqIn cloud-based digital banking system. BanqIn is an all-in-one, comprehensive digital core banking system specifically designed to reach unbanked and under-banked communities and increase financial inclusion in rural and remote areas with limited financial service providers. Through mobile applications, BanqIn enables a hub and spoke model to connect an additional 90 villages with one of the 23 digitalized CUs in close geographic proximity.