LB Finance joins Lanka QR network to strengthen Central Bank’s ‘Digital 2020’ Vision

LB Finance Head of Digital Financial Services Bimal Perera (right) with Central Bank Director Payments and Settlements D. Kumaratunge 

LB Finance (LBF), country’s leading Non-Banking Financial Institution, recently joined the National Digital Payment platform Lanka QR via its popular mobile wallet LB CIM (Cash-In-Mobile). 

LankaQR is the national QR standard for local currency payments introduced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). 

Following the integration CIM mobile wallet becomes interoperable for all four transaction types of Lanka QR, enabling its users, to pay and accept payments from other mobile wallets offered by third party banks and financial institutions.

LB CIM smartphone application is available for Android and iOS based devices. It comes in the form of two separate mobile applications; ‘CIM Customer app’ and ‘CIM Business app’, to cater to the specific needs of customers and retail merchants. 

In a statement the company said LB CIM is proud to be one of the few trilingual mobile wallets available in the market and champions the concept of simplicity in its UI/UX offering. Company believes CIM’s ultra-simple design gives it an advantage over the completion to become a truly inclusive digital payment solution to Sri Lankan masses. 

The CIM customer app serves as an interest-bearing digital savings account (5.5% p.a.), that sits inside the users smart phone and functions as a wallet that can be used at any time to make payments to any Lanka QR merchant by simply scanning the merchant’s QR code. 

Customers can use the CIM app to link any 3rd party bank account through Just-Pay network and top up their wallet, transfer money instantly to any bank, pay their credit cards, utility bills, mobile reloads thus eliminating the need to go in search of ATMs to withdraw money for daily cash purchases. Existing customers of LB Finance can also use the CIM app to service their loans/leases and inquire fixed deposit details at the convenience of their smartphone. 

The CIM business app acts as a platform for retail merchants to develop their businesses by managing their business cash flows more efficiently and securely, while earning interest on the savings balance stored in the mobile wallets. CIM Business app provides additional benefits to CIM registered merchants by bringing customised technological conveniences, designed to help them develop their retail business operations. 

Through the app, LB Finance expects to include Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Sri Lanka to the formal financial services and provide them with a platform to manage their business cash flows efficiently and securely.

Earlier this year Central Bank of Sri Lanka named the year 2020 as the ‘Year of Digital Transactions’ and launched a promotional campaign named ‘Cash Wade’ with the aim of popularising the digital payments among the masses. The launch marked the official beginning of the retail level campaign aiming to draw as many customers to use digital payment methods such as mobile wallets, LankaQR code and Just-Pay network. 

CIM mobile wallet is an ambitious initiative by LB Digital Financial Services (DFS), a specialised unit that combines the strength and heritage of a five decades old financial institution with the entrepreneurial spirit of a fintech start-up. LB DFS plans to further enhance the value proposition of CIM to position the product as the country’s most inclusive digital payment solution.