•  Implementation date yet to be announced

By Madhusha Thavapalakumar and Mihi Perera Dialog Axiata, a leading telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka, is set to provide its customers with the option of trading on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) through its popular MyDialog app by linking the platform with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) app, The Morning exclusively learns. CSE regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson Viraj Dayaratne PC told us that Dialog requested from SEC to provide this option for its significant customer base to which the stock market regulator has given the approval. "In their platform Dialog has many other services and trading would be one of those services. When to implement, maximum and minimum trading threshold and any other necessary things have to be decided by them actually," Dayaratne added. He added that while Dialog is at the forefront of pioneering this service, any company or business with a similar platform can connect their customers with the CSE app. According to Dayaratne, the main goal of this app is to broaden the stock market investor base as telecos have a significant customer base. However, when contacted by the Morning, CEO of Dialog Axiata Supun Weerasinghe denied knowledge of such an app. In September last year, CSE went through digitalization in order to make it convenient for the investors to engage in trading activities. The first phase of this initiative was to convert paper-based statements to electronic form and to facilitate companies listed on the CSE to pay dividends electronically to shareholders. As part of the second phase of the initiative, the CSE and SEC launched a transformative digital offering through the new CSE mobile app – an end-to-end digital onboarding and online account-opening feature that removes the barriers to entry for new investors and enables any eligible prospective investor around the country to open a CDS account to trade in the market without the need to visit a branch office.