New ways recommended to facilitate foreign remittances

A Working Committee appointed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CB) to study and suggest new remittance channels for Sri Lanka has made recommendations on reducing the cost of remitting money, having identified the need to introduce new and low cost remittance channels with the objective of increasing the inflows of foreign remittances while discouraging the use of informal channels.

The Working Committee comprised experienced professionals from Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Sampath Bank PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Cargills Bank Ltd, Dialog Axiata PLC, Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd and CB, the monetary regulator said in a media release

The Working Committee has proposed the implementation of a National Remittance Mobile Application titled “SL-Remit” to attract more remittances to Sri Lanka with features such as self-registration of users, the ability to link to global money transfer operators and global FinTechs to facilitate remittances from any country, instant fund transfer to any bank account/mobile wallet in Sri Lanka. In addition, the application would include value-added services such as direct bill payments, attractive foreign exchange rates and low transaction fees.

The CB will now implement the “SL-Remit” mobile application with the assistance of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka Banks’ Association, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd.