The sole purpose of the company is to achieve cost advantages to the financial community in Sri Lanka in sending secure financial messaging within the financial network in both global and local contexts. Outsourcing the services of a Managed Service Provider (MSP) has given the advantage of cost and dedicated team for managing services for LFSBL.
The need for setting up DR (Disaster Recovery) sites/connections cropped up the idea of service bureau with better resilience. Further, the discontinuation of dialup connections, Dual I economy package and the removal of subsidy will escalate the cost of connections, which would have an impact on the overall cost structure. A Service Bureau for SWIFT users in Sri Lanka (LK) will be able to manage a common gateway for all users at a relative cost advantage by way of cost effective structure. Such network will enhance the capability and increase capacity to prepare for new products and services of SWIFT.
Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL) was formed in December 2006 with an initiative of SWIFT User Group in Sri Lanka, banking community and led by the regulator; Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It was incorporated in June 2007 under the Companies Act 2007 of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
The leading banks, Central bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Sri Lanka Banks Association (Guarantee) LTD (SLBA) together have formed a company with their respective capital contributions to operate a Service Bureau for SWIFT users in LK as a common gateway for secure financial messaging. The company is named as Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd (LFSBL). LFSBL was established as a SWIFT Services Bureau to mitigate the costs of financial messaging of Sri Lanka Swift Users. This is a major initiative by Sri Lankan Financial community. LFSBL is responsible and accountable for 99.99 service availability (reliability) and support services for the users in Sri Lanka.
LFSBL was formed with 65 million LKR (722,222 AUD) paid-up capital and returned an excess capital of 35 million LKR (388,888 AUD) back to its shareholders with its efficient planning of Project cost in 2007/8 year. The company achieved 27% ROCE (return on capital employed) in the 1st year of operations- 2008/9. It has annual revenue of 500,000 AUD at present.
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications - Belgium) is the provider of secure financial messaging services to well over 8,800 banks and institutions in the world. (One of SWIFT Asia Pacific offices is in Australia at Suite 3202, AMP Centre, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Tel: +61 2 92 25 8100,Fax: +61 2 92 25)
SWIFT was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1994. Since then the number of users and volumes have grown many times. There are 32 SWIFT users, local commercial banks, branches of foreign banks and primary Dealers. The total SWIFT message volume in and out of Sri Lanka stands more than 18,000 per day. The commercial banks use SWIFT messaging to correspond with their counterparts globally. The primary Dealers, commercial banks and the Central Bank created a Closed User Group (CUG) to communicate with each other through SWIFT for payments and confirmations on Rupee Fund Transfers in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Government Securities (SSSS). Therefore, SWIFT has become a critical part in the payment and settlement systems in Sri Lanka which is regulated by Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The Board of Directors consists of the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and CEOs of leading Banks in Sri Lanka.
Board of Directors
1. Mr. Lakshman Silva (Chairman), Chief Executive Officer / Director, DFCC Bank Plc
2. Prof. W. D. Lakshman - Governor - Central Bank of Sri Lanka
3. Mr. Rajeeva Bandaranaike, Chief Executive Officer, Central Depository Systems (Pvt) Ltd
4. Mr. D. P. K. Gunasekera, General Manager, Bank of Ceylon
5. Mr. A. J. Alles, Managing Director / CEO, Hatton National Bank Plc
6. Mr. Ranjith Kodituwakku, Chief Executive Officer / GM, People's Bank
7. Mr. K. P. Ariyaratne, Director / CEO, Seylank Bank Plc
8. Mr. M. N. R. Fernando, Managing Director, Sampath Bank Plc
9. Mr. D. Kumaratunge, Director, Payment & Settlement Dept, Central Bank of Sri Lanka
10. Mr. Ravi de Silva, Secretary General, Sri Lanka Banks' Association
11. Mr. S. Renganathan, Managing Director / CEO, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc
12. Mr. Roshan Wanduragala, Manager - SWIFT Department, Sylan Bank Plc
13. Mr. Deepal Akuretiyagama, Chief Operating Officer, National Development Bank Plc
The CBSL is a major shareholder of LFSBL and a Board Member. CBSL will continue to monitor the activities of LFSBL and its services to SWIFT users in Sri Lanka to ensure efficient functioning of national payment and settlement system. CBSL plays several distinctive roles as regulator, participant in the system and settlement agent.
LFSBL is an integral part of the National Payment System and an Observer Member of the National Payment Council (NPC) headed by CBSL. There are 34 financial institutions in the National Payment System of Sri Lanka.
Suntel Ltd extends their services to commercial banks and other Institutions who are currently using SWIFT services in Sri Lanka. Suntel has been providing Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based IP/VPN (IP enabled Virtual Private Networks) connectivity since, year 2002 and is the pioneer in providing these services to the Sri Lankan market. They are the first service provider to offer such services in South Asia. Suntel IP/VPN is fully powered by CISCO who has provided similar solution to BT, SingTel, Starhub, Cable & Wireless etc. MSP directly reports to the General Manager of LFSBL.
| Bank / Primary Dealers | Connectivity | Messaging Interface | |
| 1 | Bank of Ceylon | Yes | |
| 2 | Capital Alliance Ltd | Yes | |
| 3 | Central Bank of Srilanka | Yes | |
| 4 | Central Depositary System | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | Entrust Securities Ltd | Yes | Yes |
| 6 | Commercial Bank | Yes | |
| 7 | DFCC Vardhana Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 8 | First Capital Treasuries Ltd | Yes | |
| 9 | Hatton National Bank | Yes | |
| 10 | Indian Bank | Yes | Yes |
| 11 | Indian Overseas Bank | Yes | Yes |
| 12 | MCB Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 13 | National Development Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 14 | Nations Trust Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 15 | NSB Fund Management Co. Ltd | Yes | |
| 16 | Nat-Wealth | Yes | |
| 17 | Pan Asia Banking Corporation Ltd | Yes | |
| 18 | People's Bank | Yes | |
| 19 | Public Bank Berhad | Yes | |
| 20 | Sampath Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 21 | Seylan Bank Ltd | Yes | |
| 22 | Union Bank of Colombo Ltd | Yes | Yes |
| 23 | Amana Bank Limited | Yes | |
| 24 | Wealth Trust Securities Limited | Yes | Yes |
| 25 | Perpetual Treasuries Ltd | Yes | Yes |
| 26 | Senkadagala Finance PLC | Yes | Yes |