LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018 kicks off

From left: Sri Lanka Banks’ Association Secretary General Ravi De Silva, LankaClear Chairman Anil Amarasuriya, LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018 Panel of Judges Chairman Wasantha Deshapriya, CBSL Payments and Settlements Director Dharmasiri Kumaratunga, and LankaClear GM/CEO Channa De Silva

LankaClear Ltd., the operator of the LankaPay national payment network, last week launched the second edition of the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018.

The objective of the awards competition is to recognise the torchbearers of payment technology innovations in the country who have been steadfast to the cause of promoting electronic payments and constantly thriving to enhance customer convenience.

The LankaPay Technnovation Awards is Sri Lanka’s first and only annual payment technology innovation awards, held for the second consecutive year after the resounding success achieved at the inaugural event last year. 

The event is scheduled to be held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo on 20 September under the patronage of Chief Guest, Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Minister Harin Fernando and Guest of Honour, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy. The event will also feature an international keynote speaker who will shed light on the topic of contemporary significance in relation to the future of payment technology, adding further value to the audience.

With rapid technological advancements and increasingly dynamic lifestyles, consumers of services have become increasingly mobile in their behaviour. Hence, being able to carry out their business, occupation or daily chores from wherever they are has become the new norm of convenience. The services they consume have to be omnipresent or location-independent and must address their mobile lifestyle needs. Against this backdrop, LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018, conducted under the theme ‘EC – Recognising Excellence and Convenience’, intends to recognise the payment technology innovators who have successfully addressed the emerging lifestyle needs of people by taking customer convenience to new heights. Initiated last year in a quest to drive financial inclusivity in the country, which is a key objective of the Central Bank, the LankaPay Technnovation Awards intends to enhance the efficiency of the country’s national payment network. Award criteria for 2018 considers interbank payments during the period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018. 

Banks, non-banking financial institutions and FinTech service providers who have remained steadfast to this cause and excelled in this endeavour will be vying for recognition under 15 categories. The categories they will be competing in include Overall Winner for Excellence in Interbank Payments - Banking Category; Overall Winner for Excellence in Interbank Payments - Non-Banking Category; Bank of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience; Best Common ATM Acquirer of the Year; Best Bank for Seamless Back-end Operations Bank of the Year for Financial Inclusivity; Most Innovative Bank of the Year; Financial Institution of the Year for Customer Convenience; Most Popular Electronic Payment Product-banking and Non-banking Financial Institutions; Most Popular Electronic Payment Product-FinTech category; Best Mobile Payment Application of the Yearl Best Bank for Retail Payments; Best Application for Retail Payments; Best Acquirer on LankaPay Online Payment Platform and Best Acquirer for US Dollar Online Clearing.

The initial shortlisting will be carried out based on the performance of individual banks, non-banking financial institutions and FinTech service providers against a set criteria defined and communicated at the beginning of the period, which will also be subjected to an independent audit. 

During the second phase of judging, the shortlisted winners need to present how they achieved that performance to an independent and eminent panel of judges. The Chairman of the panel of judges of LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018 will be Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, Wasantha Deshapriya, who played the same role at the previous year’s competition as well. The other members of the panel of judges are Asite Talwatte FCA, FCMA, MBA (Sri J) - Chairman Management Systems Ltd. and Past President CIMA and CA Sri Lanka; Lasantha Wickremasinghe - Past President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Partner BR De Silva; Rajeeva Bandaranaike - Chief Executive Officer of Colombo Stock Exchange; Dulith Herath - Founder and Chairman of Kapruka.com; Jagath Perera - President CA Sri Lanka and Anushya Coomaraswamy - former Director John Keells Holdings. The independent panel of judges will make the final determination on the winners.