Myanmar ( CNN ) -- When Nyein Chan Aung sold his house in Yangon recently he faced a dilemma -- what do to with the proceeds . Did he he take his cash to the bank or keep it at home ? He compromised . A third went to the bank , the rest stayed where he lives . In fact , the only reason he deposited anything at all was fear of a house fire . Read more : Looking for transformation in Myanmar . This is banking in Myanmar , circa 2013 . An outdated and debased system , open for decades to abuse by the previous regime , and shunned by about 90 % of the population . People here completely bypass the banks and keep their money at home . It 's the closest thing you 'll find to a total cash economy anywhere in the world . Read more : Change in Myanmar , the market view . The Myanmar government has made fixing the banking system a priority but a quick visit to any branch reveals the size of the problem they face . It 's an extraordinary scene : Teller counters and the office tables are literally overflowing with cash . Bricks of the stuff , tied in bundles of a thousand notes balancing precariously on top of each other or littering the floor in large untidy piles . And customers bring in more in bulging shopping bags , while security guards wheel in white rice bags with still more bundles of kyat , as the local currency is known . Myanmar is still working on a real credit system and ATM machines are a relatively new development -- if they work . Like most businesses in the city and the towns , frequent blackouts means the systems shut down . I tried three ATMs over the course of a day . None worked . Read more : 11 things to know before visiting Myanmar . But it goes much deeper than that . The banking system we take for granted in most countries -- easy loans , financial products , interbank operations , credit -- they 're all virtually non existent here . There is no proper corporate banking . Businesses can not get loan repayment plans of longer than one year . True , they are rolled over but it means the central plank for corporate borrowing -- a realistic repayment schedule -- does n't exist . Bank managers still have to telephone the central bank at the end of each trading day to tell them what the balance in the books is . There is now a banking law before parliament and until that is approved , thorough root-and-branch reform can not take place . And even when it does , the banks have to overcome enormous mistrust in the system , built up over two generations of mis-management . People here highly suspicious of banks . One clear sign of change is that credit cards are becoming more common , but only by Visa and Mastercard . No local issuer yet . Visa plans to issue pre-paid credit cards by the end of this year . It 's a small step , but for Myanmar a small step in the right direction is critical as it gets ready to be part of a global integrated financial system .
People here completely bypass the banks and keep their money at home . Teller counters and the office tables are literally overflowing with cash . One clear sign of change is that credit cards are becoming more common . Comment: