Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, partnered with popular internet payment gateway provider OnePay, further expanding the selection of online shopping options available to customers and its extensive portfolio of SMEs across the island.
The partnership paves the way for more than 900merchants using the OnePay platform to receive payments from card holders. Many merchants using the internet payment gateway are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are engaged with multiple merchant segments.
“As Sri Lanka’s banking sector leader in the digital payment revolution, we have been aggressively pursuing partnerships with platforms with a strong track record,” HNB Head of Cards Gauthami Niranjan said. “Banking and financial institutions must collaborate with other stakeholders like FinTechs, to create a robust national digital payment ecosystem, which would benefit the entire economy, especially Sri Lanka’s SMEs.”
OnePay, launched by Spemai (Pvt) Ltd in 2019, helps local ‘brick-and-mortar’ merchants grow their businesses by developing an online sales channel. The internet payment gateway, for which both users and merchants can register free after downloading the mobile app, has developed several innovations targeting SMEs. OnePay is the first Sri Lankan FinTech to obtain ISO/IEC 27001 certification relating to information security management.
“By enabling HNB cardholders to make payments through our platform, this partnership will significantly benefit and strengthen our merchants,” OnePay CEO Amila Fernando said. “We are fully committed to extending the benefits of emerging digital technologies and driving the growth of Sri Lankan SMEs, which form the backbone of the domestic economy.”
In addition to OnePay, HNB, a pioneer in digital banking in Sri Lanka, has partnerships with multiple leading internet payment gateways. The bank has also played a prominent role in driving a cashless QR-code based payments revolution that aims to make mobile phones and digital payments the standard for day-to-day transactions island-wide. Such notable initiatives include the LANKAQR-integrated HNB SOLO mobile payment app. The intuitive, user-friendly and sophisticated app has significantly increased the convenience of making a wide range of QR-based payments.
With 265 customer centres across the country, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically-innovative banks, having won local and global recognition for its efforts to drive forward a new paradigm in digital banking. HNB has a national rating of AA- (lka) by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd. The bank was also ranked among the World’s Top 1,000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based Banker Magazine for five consecutive years. HNB was also declared Best Sub-Custodian Bank in Sri Lanka at the Global Finance Awards 2020.
