Plastic Cash

Mar 11, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank of Ceylon says it has seen a sharp increase in payments by debit card and 400,000 new cards had been issued over the past year.





Outstanding credit was 49.3 billion rupees up from 44.4 billion rupees in December.

The bank claims to have the 'largest active debit card base' in Sri Lanka which had now expanded to 3 million, chief executive Ravi Dias told shareholders in the annual report.

Last year purchases made by debit card had grown 30 percent, he said without elaborating on a volume.

He said the bank has also upgraded its mobile and internet banking services.

"By promoting this channel migration, we do not only make banking more convenient to the customers but also significantly reduce the transaction costs for the bank," he said.

Sri Lanka has also seen an increase in credit card use.

According to Central Bank data by end September 2013, active credit cards rose to 926,614 from 891,170 in December.