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By Hiruni Dabarera
Wordline Asia Pacific, along with several dozen banks, has joined together in Sri Lanka to share knowledge and experiences on the latest financial trends and techniques in Asia.
The 25th session of the Asian Card User Conference commenced at Heritance Negombo yesterday in a bid to create a platform for bankers from different Asian countries to meet with each other and to be updated on the latest innovative payment techniques in Asia. The conference, spanning over one and half days, will also give the banking sector in Sri Lanka the opportunity to enter into beneficiary partnerships with other Asian banks and financial service providers.
Wordline Asia Pacific’s Chief Executive Officer Tee Kee Ming told Daily FT the conference was organised with the aim of sharing knowledge and experiences.
This annual conference was first held in 1992 and within the past 25 years was held in many Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This is the first time that it is being held in Sri Lanka.When asked as to why the conference was brought to Sri Lanka, Ming stated that it was proposed as a possible venue during the previous conference in Vietnam owing to their long-term partnership of over 10 years with People’s Bank in Sri Lanka.
“I believe that Sri Lanka is still in the premature stage in the usage of cards for financial transactions when compared with other Asian countries,” the CEO said.
“One of the major drawbacks the country faces is acceptance by the average citizen of the country to use cards as a means of payment.”
He also stated how the 30-year civil war downplayed the possible developments in the country in terms of the island-wide usage of credit cards.
Asia’s emerging markets are expected to increase from 30% to 41% of world GDP by 2023. Thus, the organisers believe that through conferences like this they can give a boost to Asian banks to be at the forefront in developing financial services.
The conference also hopes to address regulatory trends and how to ensure protection and security to the customers. Problems pertaining to information security are of acute importance where technology advancements are taking place at a rapid pace. ACU believes that through discussion their delegates can come up with innovative ways on how to tackle fraudulent online transactions.
The conference comprises delegates representing almost 50 banks and financial service providers from close to 10 Asian countries.
