Jul 07, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Central Bank has entered into agreements to begin the process of developing a Blockchain Technology Based Shared Know-Your-Customer (KYC) proofs of concept (POCs).
Central Bank said in a statement that they identified the potential benefit for Sri Lanka’s financial services in 2018 and initiated an inter-industry study of Blockchain Technology, with the voluntary participation of the banks as well as the IT industry.
CBSL has decided to pave the way for Blockchain Technology based financial service solutions in Sri Lanka developing a Shared KYC solution.
Accordingly, after a selection process, the Central Bank has selected three applicants to be tasked with this pioneering project in Sri Lanka.
The selected applicants are Sampath Bank PLC together with the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) as joint applicants, norbloc AB from Sweden, and Yaala Labs (Pvt) Ltd and Linearsix (Pvt) Ltd, both Sri Lankan companies, as joint applicants.
Agreements were signed between the selected applicants and CBSL today, with the attendance of Deshamanya Prof.
W D Lakshman, Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, amidst the attendance of senior bank officials.
“As we live in a world where every aspect of our lives is becoming digital, the Central Bank has taken a lot of effort to improve the digital financial infrastructure of Sri Lanka," Prof. W D Lakshman, Governor of Central Bank said.
"Shared KYC opens avenues to seek opportunities for increasing access to financial services through digital and remote onboarding.
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