Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd | Purpose of The Company

15+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Purpose of The Company

The sole purpose of the company is to achieve cost advantages to the financial community in Sri Lanka in sending secure financial messaging within the global SWIFT financial telecommunication network.

The purpose is well served with the LFSBL - SWIFT Shared Infrastructures which are outsourced, which has given significant advantages to the banking and financial community

Formation

Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL) was formed in December 2006 with a major initiative of Sri Lanka SWIFT User Group, banking community and led by the regulator; Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It was incorporated in June 2007 under the Companies Act 2007 of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The leading banks, Central bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Sri Lanka Banks Association (Guarantee) LTD (SLBA) together have formed a company with their capital contributions to operate a Service Bureau for SWIFT users in LK as a common gateway for the SWIFT secure financial messaging. The company is named as Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL). LFSBL was established as a SWIFT Services Bureau to mitigate the costs of financial messaging of Sri Lanka Swift Users. LFSBL is responsible and accountable for 99.99% service availability (reliability) and support services for the connected Users.

SWIFT & LFSBL

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications - Belgium) is the provider of secure financial messaging services to well over 11,000+ banks and institutions in the world. SWIFT was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1994. The number of users and volumes have been growing since 1994. There are 34 SWIFT users, local commercial banks, branches of foreign banks and primary Dealers. The total SWIFT message volume in and out of Sri Lanka stands more than 27,000+ per day. The commercial banks use SWIFT messaging to correspond with their counterparts globally. The primary Dealers, commercial banks and the Central Bank created a Closed User Group (CUG) to communicate with each other through SWIFT for payments and confirmations on Rupee Fund Transfers in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Government Securities (SSSS). Therefore, SWIFT has become a critical part in the payment and settlement systems in Sri Lanka which is regulated by Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).

Profile of Managed Service Provider (MSP)

DIALOG BROADBAND PVT LTD (DBN) extends their services to commercial banks and other Institutions who are currently using SWIFT services in Sri Lanka. DBN has been providing Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based IP/VPN (IP enabled Virtual Private Networks) connectivity since, year 2002 and is the pioneer in providing these services to the Sri Lankan market. They are the first service provider to offer such services in South Asia. DBN IP/VPN is fully powered by CISCO who has provided similar solution to BT, SingTel, Starhub, Cable & Wireless etc. MSP directly reports to the General Manager/CEO of LFSBL.

Role of the Regulator

The CBSL is a major shareholder of LFSBL and a Board Member. CBSL will continue to monitor the activities of LFSBL and its services to SWIFT users in Sri Lanka to ensure efficient functioning of national payment and settlement system. CBSL plays several distinctive roles as regulator, participant in the system and settlement agent. LFSBL is an integral part of the National Payment System and an Observer Member of the National Payment Council (NPC) headed by CBSL. There are 34 financial institutions in the National Payment System of Sri Lanka.