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Monday, 5 August 2019 01:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
In an encouraging sign for the Sri Lankan economy and its bourgeoning fintech sector, Japan’s Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions announced that it had entered into an agreement for the purchase of the entire issued share capital of Interblocks Ltd., a local company specialising in payment-related software products and services catering to needs of financial institutions and retail businesses.
Upon finalisation of the milestone share acquisition, Interblocks Ltd. will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions, building on a vibrant capital and business partnership which first commenced in May 2018.
Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions Representative Director and President Tetsuya Yagi said: “We are pleased to warmly welcome Interblocks into our Group. Since we commenced our business alliance agreement last year, our teams have been jointly developing solutions for payment channels, and we are happy to note that in a very short period, we have received numerous inquiries which have since been converted into viable business. The invaluable contributions made in terms of software development by the Interblocks team has been vital to this success.”
“With Interblocks joining our group, we are confident that we will now be able to work in closer collaboration to share expertise and technologies that will help develop a new generation of solutions for the financial and payment market,” Yagi said.
He further noted that Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions will now seek to accelerate the development of solutions that accommodate cash and non-cash transaction channels such as automated teller machines (ATMs), bank counters, mobile banking or smartphone-based payment for the global market, including India and Southeast Asia.
Interblocks Managing Director and CEO Dinesh Rodrigo said: “We are truly excited to move into this next stage of our company’s journey as part of the Hitachi-Omron Group. As a fintech that has its roots in Sri Lanka, we are also deeply honoured to have been selected to become part of an organisation with the heritage, strength, and a leading global presence as the Hitachi Group.”
“The rapid evolution of our partnership in the short period of just over a year is testament to the exceptional synergies between our companies and the alignment of our visions for the future of the fintech space, which we believe lies in integrated scalable and adaptive solutions. The unique knowledge and capabilities we each bring to the table will enable us to achieve this vision and continue to provide market-leading technology in this rapidly evolving space. It will also be a boost to Sri Lanka that global leaders are still seeing opportunity in Sri Lankan businesses. We hope this sends a positive message to local companies and global investors alike,” Rodrigo added.
He further noted that Interblocks will now be empowered to provide improved products and services to their existing and future customers. It will also enable them to enhance and expand their outsourcing and manage service offerings by leveraging on the experience and strength brought by Hitachi-Omron to serve customers better.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions Corp. is a member of the Hitachi Group and a leading vendor of cash recycling ATMs.
Established in 2000, Interblocks provides a broad product line-up designed to connect with multiple banking channels, such as ATMs, Point of Sale (POS), mobile terminals, and more. The company offers sophisticated software development capabilities in the electronic payment processing space, primarily catering to corporates in Asia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Its payment service infrastructure features a switching system that processes transaction data at its core and is an integrated next-generation service delivery platform comprising diverse software groups accommodating mobile wallets, payments, cards, remittance, and virtual banking solutions which are highly expandable and exceptionally flexible.
