LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2022 to honour ‘Digital Superheroes’
The fourth edition of LankaPay Technnovation Awards - Sri Lanka’s pioneering and the only payment technology innovation awards will be celebrated with a gala event scheduled to be held on March 29 at Shangri-la Colombo under the patronage of Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Organised by LankaClear, the operator of the country’s national payment network, LankaPay Technnovation Awards aims to recognise the flagbearers of payment technology innovations in the country who have steadfast to the cause of promoting digital payments thereby enhancing customer convenience, LankaClear said in a media release.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic nearly brought not only the entire country, but also the whole world to a standstill. Since the declaration of banking services as an essential service in the country, those who were in the financial sector worked tirelessly alongside workers in other essential services to ensure that local businesses and society could function seamlessly. Due to their silent contribution, the businesses and public were able to perform their day- to- day financial transactions from wherever they were, safely and conveniently, the release said.
With an appropriate theme ‘ Honouring the Digital Superheroes’, LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2022 intends to recognise the silent contributions made by banks, NBFIs and FinTech companies for their immense hard work to support the national economy and deliver payment technology innovations during these challenging times.
Within a very short span of time, LankaPay Technnovation Awards has become one of the most looked forward to events amongst the country’s financial sector fraternities. Complying with the government health guidelines, this year’s LankaPay Technnovation Awards will limit the number of physical attendees and for the first time the entire event will be live streamed allowing anyone who wishes to experience the gala event to be part of.
Initiated in 2017 in a quest to drive financial inclusivity in the country, which is a key objective of the Central Bank, this initiative intends to enhance the efficiency of the country’s national payment network. Award criteria for 2022 considers interbank transactions during the period from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. Banks, non- banking financial institutions and FinTech service providers who have steadfast to this cause and exceled in this endeavor will be vying for recognition under 12 award categories.
The initial shortlisting has been carried out based on the performance of individual banks, non-banking financial institutions and FinTech service providers against a set criterion defined and communicated at the beginning of the period, subjected to an independent audit. At the second phase of judging, the shortlisted winners had to present their success stories before an independent, eminent Panel of Judges as to how they have achieved that performance. The Chairman of the Panel of Judges of LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2022 is the Chairman of ICTA and Board Member - SL CERT, Oshada Senanayake. The other members of the panel of judges are Asite Talwatte, Chairman Management Systems (Pvt) Ltd and Past President - CIMA and CA Sri Lanka; Dr. Linda Speldewinde, Chairperson/ Founder - Design Corp Group of Companies; 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; and Manil Jayesinghe, Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Sri Lanka & Maldives and Past President – Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.