ANZ is the first Australian bank to be granted approval to open an office in Myanmar (Burma).

ANZ expects to open an office in Yangon in early 2013, expanding its presence in what it terms the greater Mekong region.

The bank also has offices in nearby Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

ANZ received approval for the Myanmar office from the country’s central bank, after talks with the Government of the Union of Myanmar, in consultation with the Australian and United States governments, it said.

The former communist country spent nearly 50 years under military rule until elections in 2010.

Its main industries are agriculture and energy, with economic growth of more than five per cent.