Continuing efforts to transform Sri Lanka into a vibrant cashless economy, HNB PLC conducted a QR activation programme to onboard merchants in Gampaha to its digital platform SOLO in support of the ‘Rata Purama LANKAQR’ campaign launched by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
HNB, together with other financial institutions and telecommunication partners, participated in the day-long event held at the Gampaha Municipal Grounds to raise awareness and interact with merchants, including small businesses, regarding the advantages and strengths LANKAQR-integrated payments. The bank on boarded a number of merchants during the event to its digital wallet HNB SOLO.
State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development, and Minister of Youth Namal Rajapaksa attended the event as the Chief Guest, with Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga, CBSL Assistant Governor Dharmasiri Kumaratunga and senior officials from leading commercial banks.
“During the early stages of the pandemic, we witnessed many of our customers, merchants, and the general public seamlessly adopt our cashless and contactless payment app SOLO as one of the most viable payment solutions available in the market. This interest has grown substantially with the launch of the ‘Rata Purama LANKAQR’ initiative and users fully-understanding the long term benefits of the technology.
“With a growing user base of customers and merchants adopting QR-based payments as their preferred method of transacting, it is crucial we capitalize on this interest and extend this programme across the country as it has the potential to drastically enhance economic activity at the grassroots,” HNB Head of Digital Business, Chammika Weerasinghe said.
Launched in late 2020, the ‘Rata Purama LANKAQR’ campaign seeks to increase the usage of Sri Lanka’s national common Quick Response (QR) code standard developed by the CBSL. The initiative eliminates the need for merchants to have multiple QR codes for different platforms, facilitating fast, secure and affordable digital payments.
HNB has also pioneered the next phase of digital payment in Sri Lanka, introducing Dynamic QR technology in partnership with leading supermarket chain Keells and retail chain Singer. The new tech generates a unique code for each transaction, allowing customers using an app linked with LANKAQR to complete a transaction by simply scanning the Dynamic QR, which appears on the display screen of the merchants’ Point of Sales (PoS) machine, eliminating the need to manually enter the payment value while improving customer convenience and avoiding errors.