Lanka Clear gets more business opportunities due to increase in online payments
Lanka Clear, which is an interbank clearing house in Sri Lanka, is reportedly looking at starting an easy-to-use mobile cash transfer and an automatic bill payment facility since internet banking use has shown a rapid increase in the country during the Covid 19 crisis.
Sri Lanka had seen a 600 percent growth in internet banking and a 200 percent growth in payments, during Covid-19 curfews, Channa de Silva, Chief Executive Officer of LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka’s interbank clearing house has been quoted as saying in the local media.
“What we realized in the last eventful three months is that the way forward is digital,” De Silva has said.
“And the issue most banks face was to get the customers on board to adopt the technology.”
Lanka Clear (Pvt) Ltd had started a mobile phone cash transfer service with a nickname or payment exchange name (PEN) which is available with Sampath Bank and National Savings Bank as well as an automatic bill payment facility, or Direct Debit Authorization, local media reports stated.
These initiatives were supposed to be launched in mid-March but due to the COVID lockdowns, it was postponed.
“Now we have a consumer base which is stretched, which is more towards digital,” De Silva has noted. “So now is the time we need to go and capture them because they have seen the benefits so they will stick to it.”
OSL take:
The current global conditions and the situation in the country have created many business opportunities for online payment platforms. Sri Lankan authorities have been pushing for the transformation of the country into an e-economy and the current conditions have created the best set up for the development of the country’s ICT/online payment platforms. Foreign businesses engaged in the sector could explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s ICT sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/15072020/Z_2 |