Belgium based SWIFT is a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information on financial transactions in a secure, standardised and reliable environment.
Over 9,000 financial institutions across209 countries are connected to the network.
Lanka Financial Services Bureau (LFSBL) says it has reached global standards needed to operate a common telecommunication hub for banks to exchange millions of financial messages in a secure and reliable environment.
"We hired SWIFT consultancy Asia Pacific and invested almost 50,000 euros to achieve global standards," Rajaratne, said.
The bureau is looking for opportunities to meet the telecommunication needs of offshore banks.
"We did a testing to provide offshore connectivity with a local bank branch in Bangladesh and it was successful," Rajaratne said.
"Sri Lanka has some of the most sophisticated infrastructure which could match global standards"
"We can offer these facilities to other regional markets," he said.
LFSBL was set up in 2007, by the Sri Lankan banking community at a cost of 65 million rupees after Belgium based SWIFT slashed subsidised rates for the South Asian region pushing interbank financial telecommunication costs up.
LFSBL runs a common hub under the SWIFT format which helps local financial institutions including the Central Bank connect and exchange financial information securely and reliably at a lower cost.
LFSBL says by connecting to its common hub banks can cut down interbank telecommunication costs between 45 to 55 percent.
SWIFT also offers back up plans and disaster recovery site to ensure business continuity in the wake of eventualities such as floods, fire, absence of main grid power, bad weather, and software and hardware failures and prolonged absence of individuals.
"With total SWIT solutions, a bank will only need a computer to connect with us," Rajaratne said.
"They don’t need the kind of infrastructure they had been maintaining which calls for capital investments and maintenance of disaster recovery site."
"We are taking off their burden by reducing costs and also they are passing the risk to us," Rajaratne said.
