LANKAPAY TECHNNOVATION AWARDS 2018 REWARDS EXCELLENCE AND CONVENIENCE
Sri Lanka’s first and the only payment technology innovation awards – Lankapay Technnovation Awards 2018 – reached its grand finale recently.
Initiated with the objective to recognize the torchbearers of payment technology innovations in the country, who have steadfast to the cause of providing excellence and convenience in digital payments, the event was held for the second successful year on September 20, 2018, at the elegant Shangri-la Hotel Colombo.
Lankapay Technnovation Awards 2018 was graced by Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Deputy Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, Finance State Minister Eran Wickramaratne and Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy.
The event also featured the international keynote speaker Singapore Fintech Association Founding President Chia Hock Lai, who shed light into a topic of contemporary significance in relation to the future of payment technology, adding further value to the audience.
Bank of Ceylon bagged the pinnacle of all awards by winning the Gold as the Overall Winner for ‘Excellence in Interbank Payments’ under the ‘Banking Institutions’ category while Sampath Bank PLC claimed the Silver award as the Overall Runner-up.
The Overall Merit award was secured by Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC. Under the ‘Financial Institutions’ category, LOLC Finance PLC was crowned as the winner of ‘Excellence in Interbank Payments’ while Commercial Leasing and Finance PLC bagged the Silver award as the Overall Runner-up.
Altogether, 33 awards under 15 categories were presented at the event and the Gold award winners were:
Bank of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience - Category A: People’s Bank, Category B: Nations Trust Bank PLC, Category C: National Development Bank PLC
Best Common ATM Acquirer of the Year Category A: Bank of Ceylon, Category B: Sampath Bank PLC, Category C: DFCC Bank PLC
Bank of the Year for Financial Inclusivity - Category A: Bank of Ceylon, Category B: Nations Trust Bank PLC, Category C: Standard Charted Bank
Best Bank for Seamless Bank-end Operations - Union Bank of Colombo PLC
Most Innovative Bank of the Year - Sampath Bank PLC. Financial Institution of the Year for Customer Convenience - LOLC Finance PLC
Most Popular Electronic Payment Product: Banking & Financial Institutions category Bank of Ceylon (Product: B App)
Most Popular Electronic Payment Product: Fintech category - ipay (Pvt.) Ltd (Product: ipay) and acquiring financial institution LOLC Finance PLC
-Best Mobile Payment Application of the Year - Not awarded this year
-Best Bank for Retail Payments - Sampath Bank PLC
-Best Application for Retail Payments - Payment Services (Pvt.) Ltd (Product: Upay) -Best Acquirer on Lankapay Online Payment Platform - Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC
-Best Acquirer for US Dollar Online Payments - Bank of Ceylon
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. In this backdrop, Lankapay Technnovation Awards 2018, conducted under the theme ‘EC – Recognizing Excellence and Convenience’, intends to recognize 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, Lankapay Technnovation Awards intends to enhance the efficiency of the country’s national payment network. The award criteria for 2018 considered interbank payments during the period from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.
Banks, non-banking financial institutions and fintech service providers who have steadfast to this cause and excelled in this endeavour vied for recognition under 15 award categories.
The fiercely competed categories included Overall Winner for Excellence in Interbank Payments-banking Category, Overall Winner for Excellence in Interbank Payments-nonbanking 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 Year, 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 was 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 was also subjected to an independent audit.
At the second phase of judging, the shortlisted winners presented to an independent and eminent panel of judges as to how they achieved that performance. The Chairman of the panel of judges of Lankapay Technnovation Awards 2018 was former Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Ministry Secretary Wasantha Deshapriya, who played the same role in the previous year’s competition as well.
The other members of the panel of judges were Management Systems (Pvt.) Ltd Chairman and CIMA and CA Sri Lanka Past President Asite Talwatte, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka Immediate Past President and BR De Silva Partner Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Colombo Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CA Sri Lanka President Jagath Perera and Janashakthi Insurance PLC and Printcare PLC Nonexecutive Director and former John Keells Holdings PLC Group Finance Director Anushya Coomaraswamy.