LOLC becomes Mastercard’s first customer in Sri Lanka to join Digital First Program

Mastercard Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives Rajesh Mani

LOLC Finance Director/CEO Conrad Dias

iPay Head Charitha Jayasingha

iPay, a unique payment aggregator introduced by LOLC – Sri Lanka’s most valuable and globally diversified financial conglomerate – has become the first entity in Sri Lanka to sign up for the Digital First program launched by Mastercard. The Digital First program was initiated to facilitate an end-to-end digital journey benefiting cardholders, merchants and financial institutions. It was introduced to meet the rising demand for convenient and secure transactions around the world. 

Mastercard’s Digital First program maximises the safety, security and convenience of e-commerce, online banking and contactless transactions by providing the guidelines for payment processors, fintechs (financial technology), issuing banks and other partners to create end-to-end digital payment options at scale. Through this digital enablement, iPay offers a host of features including instant gratification for users through streamlined card issuance, activation and payments whilst offering them better rewards. 

User choice is a key priority of the Mastercard Digital First program as users are offered the choice to pay with any bank’s account or card that they prefer. They are also able to pay anywhere, anytime by leveraging Mastercard’s existing global acceptance, for both card and account-based payments. Furthermore, safety and security are ensured to the utmost using security tools to protect users throughout all online and offline transactions. In addition, the controls system enables them to monitor spends, along with alerts on usage, allowing them to manage their spends threshold.

Commenting about iPay’s latest initiative, LOLC Finance PLC Director/Chief Executive Officer Conrad Dias said: “iPay is currently on a rapid transformation drive and the Mastercard Digital First program supplements that effort. In Sri Lanka, iPay has garnered over 100,000 users and it allows a wide range of financial transactions. Today, the app has also been successfully launched in Cambodia with implementation plans already in place for Myanmar, Pakistan and Indonesia. Since iPay is expanding internationally, getting on board with the Mastercard Digital First program will further enable our customers and merchants not only here in Sri Lanka but even in the overseas markets in which we operate to avail themselves of a new world of convenience.” 

“Mastercard congratulates LOLC on its iPay digital payment platform joining the Digital First Program, thereby bringing about unparalleled convenience to users. Even as LOLC looks to introduce iPay to even more countries, Mastercard is very happy to support them with their growth plans for iPay in the region,” said Mastercard Country Manager – Sri Lanka and Maldives Rajesh Mani.

“iPay is the market leader in Sri Lanka in terms of customer acquisition and transaction volumes. We see the app growing further as contactless transactions and digital banking is increasing in popularity. By joining the Mastercard Digital First program, we hope to offer a best-in-class experience to all our customers and merchants,” said iPay Head Charitha Jayasingha. 

iPay is a simple, easy to use, real-time payment platform built on an architecture that allows easy integration with any system. It has been designed with a host of features, giving the user a unique, one-of-a-kind transaction experience. With LOLC Finance operating as its merchant acquiring partner, iPay is acclaimed internationally as a mobile app that has been developed on an advanced software architecture. The app includes a host of features designed to securely integrate the customer and merchant ecosystem, making it a true fintech application.