SDB Bank Continues Active Role in CBSL-Initiated LANKAQR Campaign To Promote cashless transactions in Sri Lanka

At a landmark event to be held later this month, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka along with several top financial institutions and telcos in the country will launch the 2nd phase of ‘Rata Purama QR Code’. The latest event will continue the program’s aim of introducing LANKAQR as the way forward and the standard for mobile phone and digital payments countrywide.

The CBSL-initiated campaign seeks to create public awareness on the ease, cost-effectiveness and secureness of LANKAQR digital payments for both customers and businessmen, and financial institutions led by SDB bank have actively campaigned across the island in the past few months to nurture an inclusive digital payments landscape for all Sri Lankans.

The main locations for the event in Colombo planned for Saturday, 23rd of January, include the Narahenpita Economic Center, Pamunuwa, Diyatha, as well as selected Keells, Cargills and Sathosa outlets across the city. Parallelly, PickMe vehicles will also offer LANKAQR payment-enabled rides to kick off the campaign in Colombo.

The event will involve CBSL Governor Deshamanya Professor W.D.Lakshman, CBSL Payments and Settlements Director Mr.D.Kumarathunga and other top CBSL officials, plus officials from leading financial institutions including SDB bank, telcos, and partnering institutes attached to the campaign.

SDB bank’s CEO, who was appointed as the Chairman of the ‘Working Group of Financial Institutions’ by CBSL, to lead the implementation of the LANKAQR project islandwide, in the lead up to the event stated, ‘It is heartening to see the massive progress we have been able to make together with CBSL since the LANKAQR campaign launch last year, and it is a matter of great pride for me to see how closely aligned its vision is to our very own digital payment app UPay’s aim of offering digital payment, entrepreneurial, and lifestyle conveniences to all Sri Lankans’.

The Colombo-leg of the campaign will advance the program’s vision of promoting digital transactions as the new norm and includes city-wide promotion of LANKAQR through the main event locations.

Apart from offering consumers and merchants the convenience of transacting at any merchant point bearing the LANKAQR logo, regardless of their bank or payment app, the LANKAQR standard also offers financial institutions an accurate method to monitor the credit rating of customers in approving loans and other financial requirements.

Following the directive issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka last year, the country’s top banks and financial institutions have progressively adopted and integrated the LANKAQR system into their existing digital payment platforms and apps.