From left: EY Senior Manager Tharindu Kirtisinghe, EY Director Tony Outschoorn, EY Partner Arjuna Herath, LankaClear GM/CEO Channa de Silva, LankaClear Head of Finance Rasika Galappaththy, LankaClear Senior Assistant Accountant Lakmal Rathnasekara and LankaClear Management Accountant Shehan Wijewickrama

LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2017, the pioneering payment technology innovation awards, is the only event in the country geared to recognize the true innovations in the financial sector in relation to payment systems. In order to obtain the required assurance on the processes followed to select the winners for this inaugural awards, LankaClear (Private) Ltd partnered Ernst & Young (EY).
LankaClear carried out a comprehensive evaluation process in order to arrive at the winning banks and financial institutions of LankaPay Technnovation awards 2017. The competition consisted of eight award categories. Seven of them were based on interbank volumes transacted between the respective banks and financial institutions by their customers via the LankaPay national payment network, while one was based on a popular public vote. 
EY was involved in providing the requested assurance on the processes followed in extracting, submission and evaluation of information and data to the panel of judges. The primary objective of the LankaPay Technnovation Awards is to drive financial inclusiveness in the country by enhancing the efficiency of the country’s national payment network and propel the use of electronic transactions. As a company operating in the domain of payments, LankaClear has always strived to be on par with international standards and bagged Sri Lanka’s first PCI DSS certification. During the short yet illustrious journey that spans over 15 years, LankaClear has many achievements to its credit, in pursuit to become the country’s trusted national payment network.
LankaClear CEO Channa De Silva commenting on the awards stated, “LankaClear is renewing our efforts to increase public awareness on the solutions portfolio relating to the common payment network and these awards recognize the banks and financial institutes which have excelled in driving technology-based payment instruments. These awards will be a catalyst to further reduce the cost of financial transactions to the public by promoting the use of the country’s national payment network through such innovative solutions,” he added. de Silva commenting on the importance of EY’s role emphasized that EY played a significant role as the independent information technology security and process control experts in providing the required assurances to the panel of judges on the processes followed, which were technology based and that assurance was critical to ascertain the credibility of the awards. 
LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2017 took into account the interbank payment transactions carried out during the periods from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017 and April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016. EY Senior Partner and Head of Advisory Sri Lanka and the Maldives Arjuna Herath said that they were pleased to be associated with the inaugural LankaPay Technnovations Awards 2017 while the significance of these awards was underscored by the enthusiasm of the participating banks and non-banking financial institutions in submitting the required information and data and actively participating in the awards selection process. 
The ever changing business landscape has triggered the demand for dynamic user interfaces, greater availability, higher security and more importantly services at their fingertips. In this context, Herath stated that he applauds the efforts of LankaClear in driving technology innovation to bring about a real transformation in the national payment system and EY is committed to continue to provide assurance on technology and security relating to these systems.