LankaPay-JCB International’s commercial roll-out of National Card Scheme

LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd (LankaClear) - the operator of LankaPay, Sri Lanka’s National Payment Network, together with JCB International Co. Ltd (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co. Ltd, has announced the commercial roll-out of the National Card Scheme (NCS) programme of Sri Lanka, after successfully completing the pilot stage since the announcement of the strategic partnership in June 2017.

With the commercial roll-out of NCS programme, LankaPay/JCB co-badged payment cards are now accepted at ATMs and merchants on JCB network, globally. This partnership has also enabled JCB cardholders worldwide to use their cards at ATMs and POS terminals within Sri Lanka, LankaClear said in a media release.

Under the NCS programme, MCB Bank, Regional Development Bank, HDFC Bank of Sri Lanka, Siyapatha Finance, Sampath Bank and many more banks will issue EMV enabled LankaPay/JCB co-badged cards. This marks the first ever JCB branded card issued in Sri Lanka.

At the commercial roll-out announcement held during the LankaPay Technovation Awards 2019, Channa de Silva, General Manager/CEO, LankaClear, said, “This partnership between LankaClear and JCBI is intended to help Sri Lanka to have its own National Card Scheme (NCS) adhering to the highest international standards. LankaPay/JCB cards will follow the same EMVCo standards in terms of technology and security. This would result in lower transaction costs for both banks and merchants in Sri Lanka when facilitating payments via NCS cards issued by the banks. Sri Lankan cardholders could also benefit from the payment experience at JCB merchants outside Sri Lanka, as well as entitle to various international services and promotions offered by JCBI.”