Epic Technology and VisionFund Lanka partner up to implement mobile branchless banking solution

Epic Lanka Managing Director/CEO Viraj Mudalige exchanges the agreement with VisionFund Lanka Executive Director/CEO Samuel Jebaratnam

By Hiyal Biyagamage

Award-winning and premier regional technology leader Epic Lanka Ltd. has announced a strategic partnership with VisionFund Lanka (VFL), the local subsidiary of global microfinance giant VisionFund International, to deliver a state-of-the-art digital mobile branchless banker platform to enhance its distribution of services in Sri Lanka’s microfinance sector. 

The landmark partnership will enable VisionFund Lanka to benefit from robust features that the Epic Mobile Branchless Banker module delivers by creating a digital banking touch-point at the field-level on a smart device. This mobile platform enables VFL to significantly expand their last-mile reach and deliver service excellence to their customers at their door-step, while delivering a lower cost of ownership by utilising non-proprietary Android devices that are freely available in the market.

Amongst the many features the Mobile Branchless Banker offers, the platform enables VFL agents to perform loan collections from clusters, mark attendance of groups, generate a physical receipt at the completion of a transaction as well as perform online account opening for new customers. Importantly, the online and offline modality embedded in the application enables agents to operate in areas with low or no mobile coverage without affecting their service delivery.

The platform includes the time-tested Epic Omni Channel Synchroniser for back-end interfacing and switching which provides VFL the ability to scale their front-end service delivery channels to include additional services such as mobile POS, mobile banking, e-Wallets, etc. without having to incur any back-end re-integration effort or costs. This form of future-friendly evolutionary technology empowers VFL to determine business opportunities without being hampered by technological restrictions. 

The entire platform communication channel is secured with government grade encryption to ensure the privacy, authenticity and integrity of the sensitive information exchanged and is fully compliant with Central Bank of Sri Lanka guidelines for payment security standard for mobile applications.

Commenting about their collaboration, Epic Lanka Ltd. Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Viraj Mudalige said: “At Epic Lanka, we always look for innovative companies to work with in order to co-create innovative solutions which solve real-world social problems. The synergy between our Mobile Branchless Banker product and VisionFund Lanka’s innovative microfinance solutions serves to improve the lives of many Sri Lankans, while bringing a paradigm shift for the local microfinance sector in terms of technological innovation and service delivery in the digital landscape… it is truly exciting to be at the fore-front of innovation.”

“By more deliberately applying the many years of experience and success across the financial services industry (FSI) vertical to the microfinance sector, Epic Lanka can bring journeys at scale to microfinance use cases. VisionFund Lanka brings a wealth of experience, credibility, and strategic thinking by being a part of VisionFund International, which also complements our approach towards developing innovative solutions for FSI sector,” Mudalige said further.

VisionFund Lanka Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Samuel Jebaratnam said: “We are extremely pleased to be working with Epic Technology Group to enable our organisation to reach the next level within Sri Lanka’s microfinance sector and induce our ground-breaking microfinance solutions with a touch innovation. Being able to partner with Sri Lanka’s number one FinTech solutions provider allows us to really demonstrate how an organisation like VFL could bring innovation and leadership to the local microfinance industry.”

“Local companies in the financial services industry have realised significant benefits of working with Epic Lanka and we see huge opportunities for microfinance sector to become customer-centric, improve the customer experience and at the same time significantly improving operating efficiency,” Jebaratnam further stated.