New SL debit card to be introduced
View(s):Sri Lanka is introducing a local debit card that is poised to gradually increase the use of cards for payments at points of sale and reduce the use of cash, newly appointed head of LankaClear said on Thursday.Renowned ICT industry veteran Channa de Silva took reins as the General Manager/ Chief Executive Officer of LankaClear recently with former General Manager/ CEO, Sunimal Weerasooriya stepping down from the position following an 8-year tenure, the company said.
Mr. De Silva told the Business Times that this year there were plans to roll out a new local debit card that could be used at point of sales without routing through the international payment card system.Currently, LankaClear is testing the use of this card that would strongly compete with international cards like the Visa, Mastercard and American Express, bring more competition into the local market and encourage more people to use this mode of payment, Mr. De Silva pointed out.
He noted that the local debit card could be rolled out within the next three to four months.Customers stand to gain with more promotions carried out by banks for the use of this new local debit card since the cost of the card would be lower per transaction the benefit of which could be passed down to the customer, LankaClear CEO said.At present the large supermarket chains were not charging their customers for the transactions carried out as it was minimal compared to the numbers using this mode of point of sales; however, since the cost of the card would be lower on the merchants the customer would be given discounts to encourage using this new system.Mr. De Silva told the Business Times that the payment industry in Sri Lanka has almost 80 per cent of payments carried out via cash but as the backbone infrastructure for an electronic payment system is in place they want to convert the country to a cashless society.