CDS moves into paperless digital settlements with LankaPay

From left: LankaClear Manager IT Security Solutions Duleep Liyanage; LankaClear Senior Manager Help Desk Isuru Jayaweera, LankaClear Deputy General Manager  IT and Operations Harsha Wanigatunga, LankaClear General Manager/CEO Channa de Silva, CSE Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CSE Chief Operating Officer Renuke Wijayawardhana, CSE Chief Information Officer Chandrakanth Jayasinghe and CDS Head Nalin Fonseka

The Central Depository System (CDS) a fully owned subsidiary of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) recently partnered with LankaPay, the national payment network, to provide a fully-fledged digital experience to its settlement banks via the CDS – Digitalised Settlement Schedule Signing (DS3) online portal. 

This solution was enabled via LankaPay’s service arm, LankaSign, which is a trusted digital Certification Authority (CA) in Sri Lanka. LankaPay is now capable of providing comprehensive CA services including digital signatures to the entire financial sector in Sri Lanka.

The CDS – DS3 solution enables CDS to eliminate physical placement of signatures previously required on the bank settlement schedules that were subsequently hand delivered in physical format to respective banks on a daily basis. This processes caused significant information risk and delays in the entire settlement process, which created a requirement for a more secure and faster solution.

With the new solution provided by LankaPay, CDS signatories can simply sign the settlement schedules using ‘LankaSign’ digital certificates and upload the same instantly onto CDS – DS3 portal to be accessed by the respective settlement bank. The LankaSign digital certificates are embedded in USB Crypto Tokens that enable two factor authentications facilitating secure data transmission. This process ensures that both CDS and Settlement Banks use the established secure connectivity prior to any data transmission and that data is not altered during transmission.  

CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike commenting on the initiative said, “This product has made a significant change to one of the key CDS processes, which is the settlement coordination with the four settlement banks. It has automated the settlement process, making it very much efficient by eliminating paper-based work. Further, it has also given the opportunity for the CDS to explore possibilities of streamlining the other processes within the same platform.”

Applauding the partnership LankaClear GM/CEO Channa de Silva stated, “We are indeed honoured to be associated with yet another futuristic solution of CDS with the support of CSE. LankaPay has revolutionised the ICT industry in Sri Lanka by establishing LankaSign, the first CA in Sri Lanka, primarily targeting the financial sector. In a day and age where information security is of paramount importance, we endeavour to partner with more institutions across many sectors to use cost effective digital certificate based solutions for greater autonomy and information security. This will enable customer focused local service support while bringing down the overheads associated with managing physical documents, paving the way for a paperless environment.”

LankaPay National Payment Network is operated under the guidance of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. LankaSign is the only commercially operating digital Certification Service Provider in the country that provides integrated digital security solutions with the use of Digital Certificates, SSL Certificates and End User Certificates (E-mail/Document signing Certificates). Established in accordance with the Electronic Transaction Act No. 19 of 2006, LankaSign is also authorised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as the Financial Sector Certification Service Provider (CSP).