On May 31, 2024, Mr. Dinuka Perera, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Lanka Pay at Lanka Clear, Sri Lanka’s largest payments infrastructure provider, made a presentation on the activities and initiatives of the organization to a visiting ABA delegation. The visit was one of the many events conforming the ABA & HNB Short Term Visiting Program held in Colombo on May 30-31, 2024.

From Mr. Perera’s presentation, the Program participants learned the following:

Established in February 2002 as the National Cheque Clearing House, Lanka Clear is owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and all CBSL-licensed commercial banks in the country. Lanka Clear is the operator of LankaPay, the country’s largest interbank payment network.

Its facilities include the following:

• The Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System (SLIPS) is the largest account-to-account fund transfer network in Sri Lanka. Created by Lanka Clear, it enables member banks to carry out same-day transfers of up to Rupees 5 million, in a secure paperless process.
• Launched under the brand name LankaPay in July 2013, the Common Card and Payment Switch (CCAPS) is the first phase of creating a more robust, efficient, and secure payment infrastructure for Sri Lanka.
• The Common ATM Switch (CAS) is an interbank ATM network that allows participating banks to use each other’s ATMs for free or at a minimal charge. The system was launched in July 2013.
• The Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch (CEFTS) for short is a fully automated paperless fund transfer system which allows instantaneous fund transfers between member banks.