ComBank takes Q+ digital payments drive to Jaffna ahead of Nallur Festival

The handing over of a QR facility to TCT Multi Trade, Jaffna owner Vamadeva Thiagendran by members of the Commercial Bank team in the presence of Jaffna Additional District Secretary K. Sivakaran and CBSL Payments and Settlements Department Director K. V. K. Alwis 

• Canvasses 350+ merchants and activates cashback campaign with 40+ Jaffna businesses as part of CBSL’s latest digital payments promotion

Reaffirming its commitment to leading the nation toward a sustainable digital economy, the Commercial Bank of Ceylon has taken its digital payments drive to Jaffna, undertaking its most extensive single-region merchant canvassing exercise to date in support of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) national digital payments promotional program. 

The initiative, conducted as part of the CBSL’s third Digital Payments Promotional Program for 2026, was centred on the bank’s Q+ Payment App and deliberately timed ahead of the Nallur Festival, one of the largest religious and commercial events in the Northern Province. 

Supporting the Central Bank’s efforts to expand the reach and everyday use of cashless payments in the Northern Province, the Commercial Bank Card Centre’s Q+ Sales and Q+ Merchant Acquisition teams canvassed more than 350 merchants across Jaffna town and surrounding areas, while more than 40 merchants were activated for a special cashback campaign covering the duration of the promotional period.

The participating businesses included leading clothing stores, restaurants and other prominent merchants in Jaffna, giving customers a significantly expanded network of establishments where they can make convenient, fast and contactless QR payments through Q+, while also benefiting from cashback rewards.

The participation of senior officials including the Northern Province Governor and representatives of the Department of Payments and Settlements of the Central Bank, underscored the institutional support for accelerating digitalisation in the region. A highlight of the events was the handing over of a QR facility to TCT Multi Trade owner Vamadeva Thiagendran by Commercial Bank’s Chief Manager – Card Centre and Regional Manager - North. 

The initiative builds on Commercial Bank’s continuing partnership with CBSL in advancing the national LANKAQR agenda and follows similar regional digital payments forums conducted earlier this year in Kurunegala and Trincomalee. The Jaffna program is particularly significant in extending the Q+ QR payment ecosystem into a region where digital payment penetration has historically been lower, the bank said.

Q+ is the first LANKAQR-certified payment app in Sri Lanka and the only payment app to support four types of QR payments – LANKAQR, Visa QR, MasterCard QR and UnionPay QR. It is also the first and only payment app in Sri Lanka with a Card-to-Card direct fund transfer facility. Customers can add up to five Commercial Bank-issued cards to the app, with Q+ supporting cards from four different card schemes, Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay and LankaPay JCB.

The bank’s activation in Jaffna combined merchant identification and onboarding, QR registration, merchant branding and customer education with live demonstrations of Q+ payments. A fully branded Q+ promotional stall at the main CBSL event provided an additional platform for customers and other visitors to learn about digital payments and experience the convenience of QR transactions. The bank’s initiative went beyond the bounds of a promotion, by focusing on building a sustainable digital payments behaviour in the region.

The bank said the scale of the merchant outreach makes the Jaffna activation especially noteworthy. The number of merchants canvassed was more than seven times the number of merchants onboarded during the Trincomalee leg of the CBSL promotional series. The positive response and enthusiasm shown by customers and merchants towards Q+ and QR payments demonstrated the strong potential for further digital payment penetration in Jaffna and the wider Northern Province. The timing ahead of the Nallur Festival was also intended to position Q+ for the anticipated increase in consumer spending associated with the festival period.

For customers, the initiative provides access to a wider network of QR-enabled merchants for everyday purchases, particularly in categories such as clothing and dining, while the cashback campaign makes digital payments more rewarding. For merchants, Commercial Bank provided free onboarding, QR registration and branding support, helping businesses access digitally active customers, reduce reliance on cash handling and build longer-term relationships with the Bank.

The initiative also contributes to the broader development of Sri Lanka’s digital economy by bringing merchants and MSMEs that may have traditionally relied on cash into the formal digital payments ecosystem. Greater adoption of digital transactions can support financial inclusion, provide useful transaction data for future product and policy development, and strengthen collaboration among CBSL, financial institutions and businesses in regional economies.