Two years on, FriMi from NTB continues to dominate digital banking sphere in Sri Lanka

Convenience has always been synonymous with FriMi and in just a short span of two years, the first digital bank in Sri Lanka has completely changed the way banking and payments can be done. FriMi functions as a fully-fledged digital bank, mobile wallet and payment system wrapped into one solution. 

NTB Director and CEO Renuka Fernando

FriMi was created to provide the digitally savvy Sri Lankan consumer with a state-of-the-art financial solution which brings unparalleled conveniences in managing their day-to-day financial activity. FriMi is a response to changing customer needs in the Sri Lankan market and enables anyone to open and operate a fully-fledged savings account, on the go, through their mobile phone while also enjoying a plethora of services and other features that add value to their lifestyle. Speaking on behalf of FriMi, Nations Trust Bank PLC Director/Chief Executive Officer Renuka Fernando said, “FriMi is a very young brand, and we are very proud that it has done exceptionally well during the first two years. The idea to introduce Sri Lanka’s first-ever digital bank came nearly three years ago when we attempted to look into the future, to understand the profile of our future customer and their lifestyle behaviour and needs. Hence the birth of FriMi, which is an attempt to give customers an end to end digital experience from opening their primary banking account to handling all their day to day financial transactions, payments and managing their money, all on their mobile phone. 

“We believe that the mobile phone will eventually replace the wallet and make the future cashless and card-less. At Nations Trust, we have always endeavoured to stay ahead of the curve by bringing innovative solutions to the market. We will continue to rapidly evolve FriMi, by investing in revolutionary technology and integrating with strong collaborative partnerships. This will enable us to reach our aspirations to move beyond offering our customers just banking, payments and financial management services to other lifestyle services driven by their day to day activities like shopping, transport, entertainment communication, healthcare and education.”   

FriMi is rapidly expanding both its E-Commerce merchant network as well as its physical merchant network across the country by using its QR and unique API integrated payment capabilities. Additionally, FriMi offers over 80 in-app billers that enable bill payments across categories such as utilities, education, insurance, financial services, communication, clubs and entertainment. With the rapid growth of app based service offerings in the market, FriMi is also due to launch its ‘in-app’ recurring payment capability to support these third party service providers. FriMi has also enabled global payments through its virtual debit card within the app. 

FriMi is the only provider of innovative solutions such as transferring money to any mobile number in Sri Lanka, which can be withdrawn from any Nations Trust ATM. Customers can also sign up to the bill presentment facility which will give access to their account balance with select utility providers. The innovative bill splitting feature enables clients to share bill payments among friends, while in-app features also enable gifting and donations to select charities. 

The FriMi customer has a wide choice for login authentication using either a PIN, voice, fingerprint or facial recognition. FriMi is part of the Nations Trust Bank technology infrastructure and is subject to all the standard security protocols within the banking industry.  

FriMi has recently been ranked amongst the top 30 Best Digital Financial Services Providers in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa under the category of ‘The Best Digital Banks & Financial Institutions for 2018’ by The Asian Banker. In 2019, FriMi was named one of the Top 20 E-Commerce brands of Sri Lanka as showcased by the LMD Brands Annual report 2019, and compiled by Brand Finance Lanka.  

Sri Lankans can now sign up and operate a FriMi account and enjoy all the value added features under their account by downloading the FriMi app to any Android or iOS Smartphone.