How shadow banking feeds Myanmar while starving its military

On a recent Friday night in a Bangkok dive bar, a group of young Myanmar exiles sang softly along to a mournful ballad played on an acoustic guitar.

None among the crowd had any plans to leave, either for their homeland or home for bed. They fled war, a broken economy and forced conscription into a military that seized power in the 2021 coup.

While their future in Thailand is uncertain, their ties to home are kept alive by the hard currency they send back each month to parents and siblings left behind in devastated village economies.

Aung*, a 31-year-old from the government-controlled Bago region, used to work at a state-owned bank. But since fleeing Myanmar he has relied on a shadow banking system to bypass state-sanctioned remittance channels that take a hefty cut.

That means most of the 3,000 to 5,000 baht (US$90-US$150) he sends home every month reaches his mother and sister.