US gives banking green light to Myanmar tycoons

YANGON: Two banks owned by tycoons associated with Myanmar's former military regime will start to do business with U.S. companies and investors in the latest reward for the Southeast Asian country's rapid political transformation.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it would issue a general licence for four of Myanmar's biggest banks -- Myanma Economic Bank, Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, Asia Green Development Bank and Ayeyarwady Bank -- allowing U.S. companies and citizens to deal with them.