Jun 29, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HNB has reported a smooth transition to contactless remittance transactions parallel to rising demand for digital remittances and cardless withdrawals during the coronavirus lockdown.
The bank recorded a 15% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase in digital remittances and a 10% YoY increase in cardless withdrawals across its extensive ATM network over the past three months primarily sourced from the Middle East and East Asian nations.
“While foreign remittances have reduced in the wake of the COVID pandemic, many Sri Lankans continue to live and work overseas while remitting money to support their loved ones back home. In many instances, the pandemic heightened the urgency for customers to ensure funds were available locally. In order to ensure their safety during this process, numerous customers had turned to cardless withdrawals.
While these are challenging circumstances, we believe digital remittances have helped to ease the difficulties faced by customers and helped to build their confidence in digital platforms and cardless transactions,” HNB Deputy General Manager- Retail and SME Banking, Sanjay Wijemanne said.
During the lockdown, HNB promoted cardless withdrawals for HNB Cash Xpress transactions to facilitate speedy and convenient completion of transactions. The facility was easily accessible to Lankan expatriates, via mobile apps of HNB’s extensive global network of partners, to transfer funds to their loved ones back home without the danger of entering a bank.
Similarly, the HNB RippleNet blockchain facility enabled enterprises to continue international transactions.