59 Financial Landscape Money transfers through banks require national ID cards. The MEs were not required to have an account in the bank. They could just show their national ID card and give the ID card number of the recipient of the money transfer. The process was not time consuming and the recipient could take the money by providing his/ her ID card number. The service fee to transfer MMK 50,000 ($50) was MMK 1500 ($1.5). 4.5 CONCLUSION As far as financial affairs were concerned, “trust” factor played a very important role. That was the reason that MEs were saving in a group than in a bank. Also, they preferred borrowing money from known money lenders, friends and relatives than from formal sources. Many MEs were not even aware about Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and even in Mandalay and Mawlamyine where these MFIs were active, not many were observed availing their services. Time was another factor influencing MEs decision to avail a particular financial service (whether informal or formal) and they tried avoiding multiple interactions with banks as it was time consuming. CB Bank in Bago

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