LFSBL unveils total SWIFT solutions for domestic and regional markets

Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL) yesterday announced the launch of Total SWIFT Solutions, which enables the company to now provide a secure SWIFT messaging Interface, in addition to SWIFT connectivity, to financial institutions both locally and regionally.

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) is a critical business aspect in the county’s payment and settlement system, which enables secure financial transactions.

Regulated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the country hosts 34 SWIFT users including state banks, local commercial banks, branches of foreign banks and other financial institutions and sees over 18,000 SWIFT messages being exchanged daily.

Commenting on the company’s latest service offering, Mihindu Rajaratne, General Manager/CEO of LFSBL said, “We have taken a huge step forward with the hosting of SWIFT messaging infrastructure. LFSBL introduced the hosting of SWIFT messaging infrastructure to provide significant savings to users who can now enjoy cost reductions in SWIFT service upgrades, hardware to operating software (OS), maintenance of disaster recovery sites and resilience services. We stringently maintain SWIFT global standards in disaster recovery procedures and business continuity procedures (BCP).”

Rajaratne adds that new service positions LFSBL as a regional player, capable of hosting Total SWIFT Solutions now to any financial institution in the region.

Chairman, Lanka SWIFT User Group and Chief Information Officer of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Rohan Muttiah, remarked, “The new service offering enables local financial institutions to reduce operations complexity, increase Disaster Recovery capability, and leverage potential future cloud offerings such as Sanctions Screening, Trade Finance and Payment Hubs.”

The New SWIFT Messaging infrastructure was designed, configured and tested by the SWIFT Asia Pacific Consulting Team. The direct involvement of SWIFT, assured the implementation of required levels of Global Standards for Secure Financial Messaging and adherence to security protocols, approved maintenance of IT/ICT environments and the management of disaster recovery procedures.

Commenting on the reliability of the system, Regional Manager SWIFT Asia Pacific, Rajshree Shishodia said, “SWIFT is continuously looking for ways to reduce costs for our customers. When LFSBL approached us to expand their services from sharing the gateway to providing total SWIFT solutions, we gladly agreed and supported the company. We implemented the new system with industry best practices to enable LFSBL to deliver services at the highest level.”

Shishodia noted, “The user group in Sir Lanka is a great example of how a community can work together for the mutual benefit of all members. Going forward SWIFT is keen to work with the Sri Lankan community and LFSBL to introduce more ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency.”

LFSBL was established in 2007 by 22 financial institutions in Sri Lanka, which consists of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, major state banks, leading commercial banks and primary dealers, in order to provide a common gateway for secure financial messaging services for SWIFT users in the country.

LFSBL maintains stringent standards on SWIFT availability, security & access control, network resilience and change management and has been successful in providing uninterrupted SWIFT connectivity since 2007 as per the standards specified by the SWIFT Internal Audit in accordance with the “Best Practice Label” requirements of a SWIFT Ready Connectivity Provider.

The company is audited by the SWIFT Internal Auditors based in Belgium for 100% compliance to standards. For further information on LFSBL please log on to www.lfsbl.com