By SIMON ROUGHNEEN / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON — Eight months after the global money transfer giant started operations in Burma, Western Union says people in 107 countries have sent money to the previously sanctioned Southeast Asian country.

With eight local banks onboard as in-country partners, the company has 280 agents across Burma, covering all of the country’s states and regions, bar the hard-to-access Chin State in the northwest. There is even an online money transfer option, emblazoned with a smiling, thanaka-adorned young woman atop the web page.

MoneyGram is a more recent arrival to Burma, announcing in late August that its services would be provided through partnerships with three Burmese banks: Asia Green Development Bank run—by Tay Za, a long black-listed businessman—Myanmar Citizens Bank and Tun Foundation Bank.