The Bank Everyone Can Trust and Rely On

AYA Bank has strived to become a “trusted partner” for everyone in the community and all its stakeholders, as its slogan indicates. To effectively become a partner that everyone trusts, AYA Bank believes in committing to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact as part of its strategy and practice, focusing on fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities to the community it serves.

At AYA Bank, the slogan “Your Trusted Partner” is a value that everyone at the Bank holds. Since its inception in 2010, the Bank has strived to be a trusted partner that everyone in the community can rely on – not only to fulfill their banking needs, but also to be a positive force in the community it serves.

To help enforce its commitments to the community as a whole, AYA Bank became a participant of the UNGC in 2012 and has been incorporating the Ten Principles of the UNGC into its operations and strategies since then. AYA Bank, working together with Ayeyarwady Foundation, which fronts the Bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, initially focused mainly on the healthcare and education sectors. Moving forward, the Bank plans to achieve and fulfill as many of the Ten Principles as possible.

The youths of today are the future leaders of tomorrow. AYA Bank believes it is important to educate them about the importance of utilizing banking and financial services in this stage of their lives.

To encourage this, AYA Bank started a campaign to reach out to university students. AYA Bank works with several universities across the country and sponsors university student cards, which are also used as ATM cards. This promotes cashless transactions and also allows the students to contribute to the economy as a whole, since the banking sector is fundamental to a country’s economy.

AYA Bank has worked with five universities in 2013 / 2014, producing a total of 1,944 student cards, which cost more than 6 million Myanmar kyats in total. The Bank plans to continue to reach out to more universities. In addition to promoting the use of banking and financial services, AYA Bank sets up booths in the respective universities to allow students to apply for other services.

Education has always been important. AYA Bank, in its own capacity, attempts to fulfill one aspect of the UNGC Principles on Human Rights by ensuring that people have the opportunity to learn. The Bank’s CSR activities – supported by the Ayeyarwady Foundation – in the education sector include building and donating to schools across the country; offering educational scholarships; and building and donating libraries to encourage reading.

In March 2011, Ayeyarwady Bank – together with its parent company, Max (Myanmar) Group of Companies, and the Ayeyarwady Foundation – donated a 550-bed pediatric hospital in Yangon. To ensure that the cleanliness of the hospital is well-maintained, members of AYA Bank’s workforce volunteer at the hospital grounds and engage in weekly cleaning activity. AYA Bank also works with the Foundation to reach out to the needy in the healthcare sector, such as with financial contributions.

Apart from contributing to the activities of Ayeyarwady Foundation, AYA Bank also places Foundation donation boxes in all of its branches nationwide. This allows our customers to contribute to the activities of the Foundation that reach out to the needy. This activity was started in July 2013 and, to date, more than 3 million Myanmar kyats have been received in donations. In the years to come, AYA Bank will further improve the channels for donations by giving customers who wish to donate to the Foundation the ability to use the Bank’s ATMs.

As part of our initiative to improve the healthcare sector, Ayeyarwady Foundation has also donated a total of MMK 300 Mil (up to date) for medical treatments for the under-privileged patients at the Cardiology Ward. Costly surgeries and operations for more than 50 patients have been carried out with the support of Ayeyarwady Foundation since the opening of the new Cardiology Ward.

Many internal conflicts in the country pose threats to the many who have lost their homes and loved ones in the midst of these conflicts. One such situation is the conflict in Rakhine State, which has killed many and left many homeless. AYA Bank has stepped forward and provided funds to help them rebuild their homes and their lives. Similarly, AYA Bank is also reaching out to other conflict-affected areas, such as Kachin State.

Additionally, AYA Bank is also supporting those who are affected by natural disasters such as floods and fires.

The Bank has been expanding rapidly. In just over three years of operation, the Bank has a 65-branch network across the country as of March 2014. Many jobs are created nationwide as a result – from entry to managerial level – and the number of employees has risen tremendously, from 1,700 in 2012 to 2,600 in 2013.

We at AYA Bank feel that it is not enough to just contribute to the education and healthcare sectors. We are also planning to become more environmentally-friendly. Apart from using energy-saving lights and reducing paper usage by relying more on electronic communication, we feel that we need to do more. Our planned initiatives include setting up more environmentally- friendly branches, which will also encourage our customers to become part of the initiative. The CSR team of the Bank is currently in negotiations with the respective City Development Councils about waste-management initiatives.