Overview

With the objective of maintaining a common platform for the settlements of electronic retail fund transfers in the country, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has recommended the establishment of the Common Card and Payment Switch (CCAPS) and appointed LankaPay (Pvt.) Ltd. (LCPL) to set up, administer and operate CCAPS, which is a network of interoperable switches (i.e. Common ATM Switch, Common POS Switch, Common EFT Switch, Common Mobile Switch and Shared ATM Switch) collectively incorporating a common trade name/brand name and logo in the country as "LankaPay". CCAPS has been designated by the Monetary Board of CBSL as the National Payment Switch, which will facilitate the real-time communication and processing of payment orders and other messages, effecting, ordering, enabling, authorizing and facilitating interbank fund transfers and ATM transactions amongst LankaPay members.

The Common ATM Switch (CAS) which is the Phase I of CCAPS is referred as “LankaPay - CAS”. It links all ATM switches of the LankaPay - CAS Members to facilitate domestic off-us transactions originated from any ATM of a LankaPay CAS Member in a unified infrastructure to ensure seamless interoperability across LankaPay CAS members.

LCPL shall operate LankaPay - CAS in terms of the General Direction No. 01 of 2013 - Operations of the Common ATM Switch dated 31 May 2013 issued by CBSL under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, No.28 of 2005.

Objectives

  • to establish a single, uniform and common platform in Sri Lanka to facilitate switching and clearing of domestic Not-on-Us ATM transactions.
  • to achieve maximum efficiency (including cost effectiveness) and speed with regard to switching ATM transactions including cash withdrawals and balance inquiry.
  • to promote international standards and security measures on payment card based transactions in Sri Lanka.
  • to promote co-operation among all the LankaPay - CAS Members in the evolution, provision and enhancement of ATM related systems.
  • to provide for the integration of future ATM services, improve the efficiency of ATM transactions, enhance the availability of online information and reduce risks related to ATM transactions.

  • LankaPay - CAS is the central ATM Switch of Sri Lanka which provides several services including but not limited to the following:
    • Switching of Not-on-Us domestic payment card based transactions;
    • Establishing and distributing Zone Master Keys to all LankaPay - CAS Members and maintaining the integrity and security of the LankaPay - CAS network through online security key exchanges, PIN block encryptions and Message Authentication Codes (MACs);
    • Enabling exception and claims management for transactions through an Exception Management System with the associated rules and time limits for claims resolution and arbitration.
    • Providing the Multilateral Net Settlement (MLNS) file for the Settlement of LankaPay - CAS transactions through the RTGS system;
    • Providing LankaPay - CAS Members with a hosted application service to the Liability Manager (LM) application to enable LankaPay - CAS Members to define, maintain and monitor bi-lateral net positions with other LankaPay - CAS Members, if required; and
    • Providing Help Desk Services for the benefit of the LankaPay - CAS Members.

Customer Charges

CBSL guidance to charge only Rs 30/= (including taxes) for withdrawal and Balance inquiry Rs 7.50/=

Clearing Cycles

Clearing cycle 1 –> 02:00:01 pm – 07:00:00 am

Clearing cycle 2 -> 07:00:01 am – 10.00:00 am

Clearing cycle 3 -> 10:00:01 am – 12.00:00 am

Clearing cycle 4 -> 12:00:01 pm – 02.00:00 pm

Benefits to Lankapay - CAS members

LankaPay-CAS will take LankaPay - CAS Members to the next level of the financial payment industry and will enable the enhancement of the services offered to their cardholders. Such as;

1. Cash withdrawals from any LankaPay - CAS Member ATM

Any cardholder of a LankaPay - CAS Member could withdraw cash from any ATM linked to LankaPay-CAS, which will act as a routing point where an Acquirer's request will be routed through the LankaPay-CAS to the Issuer’s switch. Upon the receipt of a successful response from the switch of the Issuer the cardholder can withdraw cash.

2. Balance inquiry option to cardholders from any ATM

Any cardholder of a LankaPay - CAS Member could get a printout or view the balance of his/her account from any ATM linked to LankaPay-CAS, which will act as a routing point where the Acquirer’s request will be routed through the LankaPay-CAS to the Issuer's switch. Upon the successful response from the switch of the Issuer the cardholder can view or get a print out of the balance of his/her account.

3. 24 x 7 service provider.

LankaPay-CAS will provide 365 day 24x7 services to the LankaPay - CAS Members, through the infrastructure & network of LCPL. Such service continuity will be minimum 99.8% and the Disaster Recovery (DR) center of LankaPay-CAS shall be available 24x365.

4. Less transaction cost to LankaPay - CAS Members and for the end user cardholder

With the introduction of LankaPay-CAS, the transaction cost has reduced considerably. This will create the platform for higher volumes of not-on-us domestic payment card transactions and will also save a considerable amount of foreign exchange moving out of the country.

Cash Withdrawal Process

Balance Inquiry Process

Statistics

CAS Quarterly Statistics

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