CBSL partners Foreign Employment Bureau to promote LankaRemit mobile application

From left: Commercial Bank Head of Retail Products and Digital Channels Pradeep Banduwansa, LCPL Chief Operating Officer Dinuka Perera, LCPL Chairman Dr. Kenneth De Zilwa, SLBFE Vice Chairman A.A.M. Hilme, Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry Secretary R.P.A. Wimalaweera, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, CBSL Governor Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Assistant Governor D. Kumaratunge, LCPL Chief Executive Officer Channa de Silva, SLBFE General Manager D.D.P. Senanayaka, CBSL Director/Payments and Settlements Vasantha Alwis, Director/Foreign Remittance Facilitation Dr. B.H.P.K. Thilakaweera, Sampath Bank Assistant General Manager Rajendra Ranasinghe, Commercial Bank Senior Manager – Digital Banking Rangika Chandrasena, PayMedia Founder/CEO Kanishka Weeramunda

With the aim of popularising the LankaRemit National Remittance Mobile Application among migrant workers, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) held a ceremony on Friday to demonstrate its features. LankaRemit provides Sri Lankan expatriates with access to a fast, secure and more convenient remittance channel to send money to Sri Lanka.

CBSL in collaboration with LankaClear Ltd. (LCPL) implemented the ‘LankaRemit’ mobile application with the launching of the first phase in February 2022. CBSL is in the process of creating awareness of LankaRemit locally and internationally with the support of stakeholders such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment and the SLBFE.

LankaRemit enables users to make fund transfers to beneficiaries in Sri Lanka and to make utility bill payments using Electronic Fund Transfer Cards issued overseas. LankaRemit also offers a number of value-added services to its users such as the ability to locate nearby money transfer operators and find relevant details of such locations. Further, after the remittance is made via money transfer operators abroad, the user can track each remittance made to beneficiaries in Sri Lanka via the app using a tracking number. If there are any future benefit schemes introduced for the remitters by the Sri Lankan Government or respective authorities, such benefit schemes would also be available in the LankaRemit app.

The LankaRemit mobile application is available to download in the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store and the Huawei AppGallery for any person remitting money to Sri Lanka from any country. Remittance service providers connected to LankaRemit are continuing to increase and it is expected that more service providers from the financial services industry including global money transfer operators and global FinTechs will join the app in the near future to facilitate remittances to Sri Lanka.

The features and benefits of LankaRemit were demonstrated to migrant workers who were preparing to commence work abroad. The ceremony was graced by the Chief Guest Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, CBSL Governor Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, SLBFE Vice Chairman A.A.M. Hilme, on behalf of Chairman Mahendra Kumarasinghe, SLBFE as well as heads of several government institutions, financial institutions and payment service providers. It is expected that this event would increase awareness and adoption of the LankaRemit app among Sri Lankan expatriates and encourage the use of formal remittance channels when sending remittances to the country.