"A country?s financial system provides its means of exchange and is the mechanism through which its resources are mobilised and allocated. The financial system is the arena in which economic risk can be managed, government debt can be financed, foreign capital can be accessed and managed, and it is the vehicle through which monetary policy can be implemented. According to Larry Summers, the former Secretary of the US Treasury, a country?s financial system provides the ?wheels? for its development...The foundations of a proper functioning financial system are transparency, accountability, governance and the effective transmission of market signals. Burma?s financial system possesses few of these virtues. Burma?s banks do not fulfil the role allotted to such institutions in allocating resources in ways beyond the whims of the military. Worse, they may be little more than facades for the activity of criminals and a narco-state. Unfortunately the history of financial sector reform in Burma does not lend optimism to the hope that this might change without more fundamental changes in the country. Like so much else in Burma, the emergence of a viable banking system must await the political reform that is so long overdue." Extra keywords: money laundering, joint venture regulation, exchange controls.