Sri Lanka’s Blockchain Bank KYC Platform to Enter Development ‘Shortly’: Central Bank

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is close to starting development of a blockchain platform expected to speed the processing of bank users’ ID information.

• The Monetary Board has now shortlisted three software development firms to be tasked with designing a proof-of-concept (PoC) know-your-customer (KYC) platform, local news source the Daily Mirror Online said Thursday.
• The final decision and the start of development are expected "shortly,” said D. Kumaratunge, Central Bank director of payments and settlements, at a Tuesday event.
• The KYC platform is planned to allow the banking sector and the government to share and update bank customer data in real time on a blockchain. 
• Kumaratunge said several banks have given their consent to join the project.
• The open call was on a voluntary basis; 36 national and international candidates applied for the project last November. One of the three finalists is a foreign tech firm.
• The development of the system is expected to take anywhere between six and nine months to complete.
• The project is expected to allow banks to onboard new customers without delays for manual processing, as well as save costs associated with traditional paper-based methods of verifying documents.
• Sri Lanka has been taking steps to improve its financial sector to meet international standards.
• In October 2019, the nation was removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s anti-money laundering/counter the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) “strategic deficiencies” blacklist, to which it had been added in 2017.

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