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Bank of Ceylon Signs agreement with LankaClear to be the Settlement Bank for USD On-line and USD Draft System

Bank of Ceylon is proud to announce being appointed as the settlement bank by LankaClear, for their inter-bank US Dollar Online payment system (USD On-Line) and US Dollar Draft on-line Image Transfer System (UITS). This selection was made through a competitive bidding process.

The agreement was signed on the 12th October 2021 at the Bank’s head office by the two parties.

Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) along with other licensed public and private Commercial Banks operating in Sri Lanka own LankaClear who is the operator of the national interbank payment network in the island. Established in 2002 as the most successful Public-Private-Partnership in Sri Lanka, LankaClear functions under the brand name ‘Lanka Pay’.

In 2002, LankaClear introduced Sri Lanka’s first interbank UITS while in 2015 implemented USD on-line payment system as policy directives of Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).

Primary objective was to assist the economy and CBSL by minimizing the foreign exchange outflow from the country for inter-bank USD transactions. Reducing the transaction processing fees for same and lower the time taken to clear USD drafts were the other main tasks of these two systems.

Among Sri Lanka’s registered commercial banks, 13 members participate in USD online payment systems while 22 members participate in UITS.

Bank of Ceylon takes on the critical role of being the settlement bank for both systems, which was previously held by Sampath Bank PLC since 2006.

Photo Caption :

The Bank of Ceylon General Manager Mr. K.E.D.Sumanasiri and The General Manager/CEO Lanka Clear Pvt. Ltd Mr. Channa De Silva exchanging the MoU (Centre). (From L to R) Mr. Sanjeewa Premarathna (Assistant Manager – Domestic Foreign Currency Clearing), Mr. Gihan Amunugama (Manager – Trade Promotion), Mr. Ranjith Ruwanpathirana (Assistant General Manager – International), Mr. Dinuka Perera (Chief Operating Officer – Lanka Clear Pvt. Ltd), Mr. W N P Surawimala (Senior Deputy General Manager – Corporate & Offshore Banking), Mr. R M N Jeewantha (Deputy General Manager – International, Treasury & Investment), Ms. Manjula Herath (Assistant General Manager – Offshore Banking) and Ms. Prabhani Rodrigo (Senior Manager – Correspondent Banking) are also in the picture.