LFSBL introduces SWIFT Solutions

Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL) launched Total SWIFT Solutions, which enables the company to provide a secure SWIFT messaging Interface, in addition to SWIFT connectivity, to financial institutions locally and regionally.

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) is a critical business aspect in the country's payment and settlement system, which enables secure financial transactions.

Regulated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the country hosts 34 SWIFT users including state banks, local commercial banks, branches of foreign banks and other financial institutions and sees over 18,000 SWIFT messages being exchanged daily.

General Manager and CEO of LFSBL, Mihindu Rajaratne said, "We have taken a huge step forward with the hosting of SWIFT messaging infrastructure. LFSBL introduced the hosting of SWIFT messaging infrastructure to provide significant savings to users who can now enjoy cost reductions in SWIFT service upgrades, hardware to operating software (OS), maintenance of disaster recovery sites and resilience services.

We stringently maintain SWIFT global standards in disaster recovery procedures and Business Continuity Procedures (BCP)."

Rajaratne said that the new service positions LFSBL as a regional player, capable of hosting Total SWIFT Solutions now to any financial institution in the region.

Chairman, Lanka SWIFT User Group and Chief Information Officer of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Rohan Muttiah said, "The new service enables local financial institutions to reduce operations complexity,increase Disaster Recovery capability, and leverage potential future cloud offerings such as Sanctions Screening, Trade Finance and Payment Hubs."

The New SWIFT Messaging infrastructure was designed, configured and tested by the SWIFT Asia Pacific Consulting Team.

The direct involvement of SWIFT, assured the implementation of required levels of Global Standards for Secure Financial Messaging and adherence to security protocols, approved maintenance of IT and ICT environments and the management of disaster recovery procedures.