Sri Lanka’s blockchain KYC platform to initiate ‘Shortly’: Central Bank

According to Daily Mirror Online, the Monetary Board has now finalized three software development firms to give the task of designing a proof-of-concept (PoC) know-your-customer (KYC) platform.

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

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The Central Bank Director of Payments said that the final decision about the starting of development will be taken shortly. The KYC platform is planned to enable the banking sector and the government to share and update customer data on a blockchain. 

Kumaratunge stated that different banks have consented 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 in an international technology firm.

The system is expected to be developed in six to nine months. The project is expected to enable banks to onboard customers without delays for manual verification, as well as save costs linked with traditional methods of document verification.

Sri Lanka has been taking a number of steps to improve its financial sector to meet international standards. In 2019, the nation was removed from the FATF’s anti-money laundering/counter the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) “strategic deficiencies” blacklist, to which it had been added in 2017.