The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has completed testing a blockchain platform for customer identification – Bits Media

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has successfully completed testing of the blockchain platform, allowing government agencies, banks and financial institutions can safely exchange customer information.

The platform has been tested by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and ten commercial banks: Amana Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Cargills Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, DFCC Bank, Hatton National Bank, HSBC, National Development Bank, People’s Bank и Standard Chartered.

CBSL previously shortlisted three applicants to develop a proof of concept (PoC): Sampath Bank in association with the School of Computer Science, University of Colombo, Yaala Labs Ltd together with Linearsix Ltd and Norbloc AB from Sweden.

The PoC deployment and testing phase was completed in June 2021 of the year. The purpose of developing the proof of concept was to evaluate whether, Is it possible to improve the quality of customer service?, and reduce operational costs and risks of banks and other financial institutions using blockchain.

“We invited software developers to create KYC based on PoC for free. Reaction to joining the project as a regional one, and at the international level was encouraging", – said the head of the payments and settlements department at CBSL D. Kumaratunga (D. Kumaratunge).

CBSL announced the creation of a platform in 2019 year, after that, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) presented draft guidance on digital identity for government agencies and regulated entities.