Sept 26, Colombo: The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has become the first Sri Lankan Bank to introduce card acceptance through Android smartphones, allowing its merchants to conveniently and cost effectively accept card payment transactions, changing the landscape of the digital payment industry in Sri Lanka with this state-of-the-art low-cost technology.

The Bank has announced that it is providing this facility in collaboration with PAYable Pvt Ltd. one of Sri Lanka’s leading fintech and digital payment solutions providers, and has integrated its payment system with PAYable SoftPOS, also known as PAYableTAP, which was developed in partnership with Mastercard and Worldline, a technology company that provides digital payment platforms to the financial sector.

This solution converts any NFC-enabled Android smartphone into a payment acceptance terminal. To enjoy the convenience of this facility, merchants simply have to download the PAYableTAP app, register with Commercial Bank, and perform Tap and Pay transactions by simply allowing cardholders to tap their NFC enabled credit or debit cards on the screen of the device to make payments.

The first of its kind in Sri Lanka, the SoftPOS solution is built on cutting-edge, secure digital payment technology and is one of the easiest to use, the Bank said. Commercial Bank certified this new technology with card schemes, and the Bank guarantees the security of the smartphone POS transactions to be the same as traditional POS transactions.

Designed with an intuitive interface, PAYableTAP is operable in all three languages, and eliminates the need for printed receipts as digital receipts are generated after each transaction and sent via SMS or email to the customer. With its simplified payment acceptance methodology, many micro and small businesses are benefitted by enabling convenient and secure digital payments, which is imperative to their progress, the Bank said. It is also ideal for delivery-based businesses with large rider fleets and businesses that work seasonally or accept payments periodically.

In 2016, Commercial Bank also introduced the mobile unit named ‘Easy POS’ that operates on the PAYable app downloadable to merchants’ smartphones. Any merchant outlet that has a smartphone can acquire an ‘Easy POS’ device and accept card payments as the device communicates with smartphones via Bluetooth, and can be used anywhere and at any time provided the device and the phone are within range of each other.

PAYable Pvt Ltd. currently serves over 35,000 merchants across Sri Lanka. Established in 2016, the platform has grown to offer multiple card-present and online digital payment acceptance solutions, e-commerce solutions and support services that help merchants grow their businesses sustainably.