special market opening ceremony was organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) under the patronage of Mr. Viraj Dayaratne, President’s Counsel, Chairman of the SEC, to mark the third phase of digitalization of the Sri Lankan Capital Market .
A joint committee was formed by the Chairman of the SEC, Mr. Viraj Dayaratne, with the objective of identifying measures and mechanisms required for the Colombo Stock Market to conduct its core activities digitally.
The committee comprised representatives from the SEC and the CSE and has worked towards converting paper-based statements to electronic forms.
The committee launched a transformative digital offering through the CSE Mobile App, an end-to-end digital onboarding and online account opening feature. In the third phase, the committee explored avenues to bring in investments from retail investors living outside of Sri Lanka.
It has developed infrastructure to offer convenient registration and investment opportunities to these foreign investors. Fourteen new features were also introduced as part of the third phase of Digitalization.
CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekara, while welcoming all those presented said that the CSE is looking forward to its journey ahead, in terms of broadening the organization and truly living up to its vision of creating wealth and value and stressed that the CSE would not just develop the market but also work as a partner to develop the country in the face of the existing economic crisis.
Chairman SEC/CSE Joint Committee for Digitalization Naresh Abeysekera, said, “Today this digital interface is not only operating the capital market but has changed the entire digital landscape of the capital market industry. It’s a remarkable feat we achieved”.
Stating the Committee’s achievement with pride, he also mentioned, today 220,000+ CSE Mobile Apps have been downloaded by users, and it’s a great platform for potential investors.
“We created a new potential age group; 18-40 years old, and 18-40-year olds make up 92 percent of this entire new base. Previously, it was more towards 50 plus. Thus, with regard to market sustenance, asset sustenance, and market growth, it’s a new base and a note on more investors coming into the market. “
Mentioning the developments of a Central Counter Party System (CCP), CSE CEO, Rajeeva Bandaranaike, said that to continue to broad base the capital market, it is needed to ensure that the overall systematic risk in the market is managed, and to do that, we need to manage and minimise the risk of default by buyers and sellers, and a CCP is the mechanism to do this effectively.
SEC Chairman, Mr. Viraj Dayaratne PC stated that “The market could not be opened for trading with the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, since not every function of the market could be carried out without a physical presence.
He added that the need to digitalize end-to-end operations of the market was badly felt and as a result a joint committee of the SEC and CSE was appointed to carry out the digitalization initiative.”
