Fintech start-ups moving to other countries

Raj Kumar, Kanagasingham, President Sri Lanka Fintech Association, also confirmed this. “We have seen that most start-ups prefer to leave the country. They feel that there is no point in registering with the Sri Lankan sandbox as the regulatory environment issues are big.” Noting that it is difficult to attract investments from Sri Lanka, he said that In the recent past, many fintech entrepreneurs have shifted to countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and countries in West Asia. “Most importantly, these countries are financial hubs. Registering businesses in these countries is more attractive for investments. Firms that have registered in these companies have partnered with local firms to start their business.”

However, he said that they have not entirely forgotten about Sri Lanka. While certain companies run as Singaporeregistered

firms, for example, they use Sri Lanka as a back end to develop products.

“The good thing is that they always use Sri Lanka as a back end in their operations. Once the economic stability resumes, they'll always try to return to the country,” Mr. Kanagasingham said.

The firms which had applied for CB Fintech Sandbox were however not successful due to issues in their application, a CB official said. He said that these applications were received more than three years ago and since then no one had applied.

He said that the CB had a briefing session at the Hatch for Fintech firms some time ago and mentioned that at the beginning, it will take some time to build up the ecosystem with the banks. He added that they cannot exclude the banks as the banks are at the forefront of the fintech business in terms of getting the products across to customers.