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Users complain LankaQR crashes banking apps

28 Oct 2021

  • Central Bank says they are not responsible
  • Advises users to contact respective banks
    BY Imsha Iqbal  Amidst the nationwide launch of the LankaQR promotional campaign, several users have been complaining that the LankaQR cashless payment method, rolled out in 2018, is crashing their respective banking apps whenever they try to scan the LankaQR code through their banking apps.  One user Tweeted this week that he used his banking app to scan the QR code and the result was that the app crashes after loading for a while.  “App shows the payment was deducted but no SMS alert was received. The seller said he did not receive the payment and I ended up paying in cash. I am not sure about trying again,” the user added.  “Same thing happened to me some time back. Never tried again afterward,” another user Tweeted.  When contacted by The Morning Business, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), which is at the forefront of getting more merchants to use the LankaQR payment method to facilitate a cashless economy, advised users to contact the relevant bank or non-banking financial entities on the face of a transaction issue.  A spokesperson stated: “If your credit card is not functioning, you have to call the relevant bank. In the same way, if such issues arise, contacting the relevant bank or the financial institution would help resolve it.” The CBSL officer, however, added that no such complaint has been made by anyone thus far regarding the LankaQR app, as per their knowledge.  He also pointed out that a stable internet connection is an obvious necessity on the part of the app user as the client who is involved in the transaction. If a network connection issue persists, the app user needs to inform the particular internet service provider on the connection issue the user is facing.  He said that therefore, such circumstances cannot be called “app crashing” since there is no direct involvement of the bank or the financial institution.  LankaQR was introduced by the CBSL along with LankaClear (Pvt.) Ltd. and licensed financial institutions to introduce a “cashless economy” while targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is a low-cost digital payment option and the app users are not charged with any fee in transactions made.  LankaQR-compliant QR codes are issued by the Bank of Ceylon, Cargills Bank Ltd., Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, DFCC Bank PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, National Development Bank PLC, National Savings Bank, Nations Trust Bank PLC, People’s Bank, Sampath Bank PLC, Sanasa Development Bank PLC, LB Finance PLC, LOLC Finance PLC, People’s Leasing and Finance PLC, Dialog Axiata PLC, and Mobitel (Pvt.) Ltd.  Moreover, the LankaQR-enabled apps are BOC SmartPay, DirectPay, Onepay, OrelPay, ComBank Q+, Flash, DFCC Pay, FriMi, NDB NEOS, SOLO, WePay, UPay, CIM, iPay, Dialog eZ Cash, and Mobitel mCash. Two days ago, the CBSL launched a nationwide promotional campaign to promote LankaQR. 


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