Visa Inc. recently announced the launch of Person to Person (P2P) payments in Sri Lanka, enabling consumers to both make and receive payments digitally, from one person to another in real-time.

In the post-pandemic world, digital transactions are growing through multiple platforms, the value of which is projected to reach US$ 5317 million in 2022. Cashless service delivery levels are being transformed through enabling real time digital access across payment gateways and smart devices.

In line with the efforts of the regulator to drive digital transactions, the new service from Visa enables card to card transactions with speed, security and convenience for the user. 

The P2P facility enables consumers to use Visa Direct and make payments directly to another Visa card using card credentials. This helps them manage digital money transfers safely and efficiently between two parties i.e. two consumers in real-time. It also provides greater mobility and enhanced access to cashless payments across various segments. 

Avanthi Colombage, Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Visa said, “Visa always strives to make money movement simpler and more transparent, as a network working for everyone. We are excited to announce that we now have the technology in Sri Lanka to enable our Sri Lankan Visa cardholders to make domestic, person-to-person (P2P) payments from one account to another using their Visa credentials.”

The wide potential of use cases with this Visa Direct solution could enable and enhance bank-to-bank transfers, credit card bill payments, usage on digital wallets, transfers on social media and bulk fund disbursements in the near future. We think this will be truly transformational to the way the people of Sri Lanka will pay and be paid.” As more and more online based services grow in scope, Visa believes that enabling real time payments across digital platforms will augment our services matching our customer’s valued expectations. Real-time payments offer critical support for consumers to access their funds quickly and could be a game changer for the market. Additionally, it supports the payment ecosystem by encouraging third party firms to offer innovative products to customers in the future.With this unique platform offered by Visa, consumers can ‘pull’ funds via their cards similar to making payments and ‘push’ those funds to another card, through the P2P payment rails. Once verified, the user can select a friend from whom money is to be received or money is to be sent to. A request of payment is sent and once approved, it is followed by the efficient and seamless 
transfer of funds.

While Sri Lankan banks can now enable the service for their customers via their bank apps, internet banking, ATMs or branch counters, fintechs can also enable the service for a wide range of consumers via the fintech apps.
Given the post-pandemic growth in digital transactions, Visa believes that the P2P transactions have the potential to exponentially grow transfers between individuals due to the inherent ease of transferring funds from one Visa credential to another in real-time. This will be in addition to the growing P2M (Person to Merchant) payments that consumers are accustomed to via Visa QR and other form factor

Real-time P2P payments are poised to grow as a personal payment option especially for those using their smart devices to make
 regular purchases.