The blockchain-based know-your-customer (KYC) platform will soon be developed by The Central Bank of Sri Lanka 

The bank announced that they are set for the development as it is now searching for tech companies who can build it a “proof of concept” shared KYC system for its banking industry. The made this announcement through an open call posted on Nov. 29th in their website.

 The banks invitation to apply for the tech companies who are interested read thus; “The opportunity for Sri Lanka to evaluate the possibility of adopting Blockchain Technology to further advance Sri Lanka’s financial sector has been motivated by the increasing demand for digitalized financial services. ”

The Sri Lanka’s central bank and the Sri Lankan tech sector at large will come together to make the project a huge success as the two parties collaborate,  “experts” from Sri Lanka’s tech finance and tech industries with the Central bank.

Customers  data  will be updated on a blockchain as the embark on”shared KYC” system between the government and the commercial banks. Now all data cam be tracked through blockchain technology.

According to the information as released, this as expected, will facilitate several potential use cases to be adopted and also leading to increased efficiency and effectiveness in the financial sector will  rise to expectations or even more,  including Sri Lanka’s financial system. 

Though, the information was not fully  detailed but then, the selected candidate: a company with a “proven track record of developing and launching mobile applications with two years experience will share the KYC platform’s “high-level design with the bank”

Sri Lanka was removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) anti-money laundering/counter the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) in October,  “strategic deficiencies” blacklist, this shows that since November 2017, the country had put in more effort to its defenses with strong support since placed on the list.

The global financial watchdog said “Sri Lanka's significant progress in improving and increasing the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime is a welcomed development by The FATF.  This was as stated by global financial watchdog in October.

With Sri Lanka now being on par with global financial regulatory standards, the need for this open call arises.

Credit: Danny Nelson