Legal and Tax Updates

This article has been published in IBA Banking Law Committee Publications. Insolvency laws in Myanmar Myanmar insolvency legislation is interspersed with and revolves around the Rangoon Insolvency Act 1910 (‘Rangoon Act’), the Burma Insolvency Act 1920 (‘Burma Act’) and the Myanmar Companies Law 2017 (MCL). Like the majority of laws in the country, both the...

By way of recently issued Instruction No. (5 /2019), the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”) has announced that on a daily basis it will begin to publish the Reference Exchange Rate (“RER”) of Myanmar Kyat (“MMK”) to the US Dollar (“USD”). The RER will be based on transactions conducted on foreign exchange markets. The RER...

In a recent order of the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”), it was announced that foreign banks and financial institutions would be allowed to have 35% equity investment in local private banks. As a corollary, local banks having a foreign equity injection up to the above mentioned limit would now be allowed to operate in...

Sub-Decree 01 ANKr.BK dated 4 January 2019 (“Sub-Decree”) has introduced a new package of tax incentives for those entities in Cambodia looking to list on the Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX). The 2019 tax incentives provided to listing entities on the CSX are much more comprehensive and concessional then those that were initially offered in 2011,...

In early January the Ministry of Planning and Finance (“MOPF”) issued Announcement 1/2019 through which foreign companies were permitted “to operate the business of insurance, underwriting agency or insurance broking with foreign investment” in Myanmar. Further to this announcement, the Financial Regulatory Department (“FRD”) has now published an Request for Proposal (“RFP”) for 100% foreign...

  Thailand was one of the first ASEAN Member States to enact a competition law with the Price Fixing and Anti-Monopoly Act of 1979. However, that legislation was generally accepted to have been ineffective in relation to competition law enforcement and was replaced by the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2542 (1999) (“Old TCA”). The Old TCA came...

In the most recent update on the Myanmar banking sector, the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”) announced amended and increased lending rates through the issuing of Directive 1/2019 (“Directive”) on 15 January 2019. The changes in this Directive will take effect from 1 February 2019. Under this Directive, 13% will be the highest lending rate...

The Amended Law on Value Added Tax Law (No. 48/NA, dated 20 June 2018) (“Amended Law on VAT”) was posted on the Lao Official Gazette on 4 December 2018 and is effective from 18 December 2018. We summarize in this client alert the key important points to note from the Amended Law on VAT. 1.      ...

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) introduced “Prakas 442 – On the Payment of Wages” (Prakas 442) in September 2018. Prakas 442 provides that from January 2019 all enterprises and establishments covered by the provisions of the Labour Law shall prepare their payroll to employees/workers (“employees”) two times per month.   The first...

A recent development in the insurance sector has allowed foreign insurance providers to finally operate in the Myanmar insurance sector. Through Announcement No. 1/2019, the Ministry of Planning and Finance (“MOPF”) now permits foreign companies “to operate the business of insurance, underwriting agency or insurance broking with foreign investment” in Myanmar. This announcement follows Notification...