By Ransika De Silva, Director / Founder of PayMaster

Technology has expanded its roots to the field of Finance with promising signs of a cashless world. An often-heard term, Fintech has taken the center-stage for financial services with many companies at present turning towards the same for leveraging profits and productivity. Fintech culture has ushered in a profound transformation in customer experience and engagement with financial services, changing the complexion of finance landscape from cards and wallets to online payments through Smartphones. Fintech apps were able to disrupt the finance industry in short time span and facilitate billions of people with the comfort of easy transactions and all sorts of financial services.

During an era where the world is moving towards cashless payments, for a country like Sri Lanka, it is paramount to embrace new technologies to move forward leaving physical currency behind to go digital. These initiatives bode well for the financial system as they account for much safer, accountable and auditable transactions. These characteristics encourage both local as well as foreign investments to fuel the development and growth of economy. 

PayMaster is one such unique app designed for mobile reloads and payments. This is a one stop payment app where users can reload to any pre-paid mobile number in Sri Lanka, pay electricity, water and fixed line bill payments, 4g router bills etc using credit/debit card. With PayMaster, users receive cash-backs for every reload they make and they are able to enjoy promos to earn free points, analyze payments and understand expenditures.

Following is an interview conducted with Ransika De Silva, Director / Founder of PayMaster.

Q. What made you to develop an app like PayMaster?                                         

A. In recent past, the apps which were available for financial services had too many loopholes in terms of both user experience and execution. At that time, we were developing world-class fintech apps around the globe. Since we got the expertise and right talent, we identified the market opportunities in Sri Lanka and capitalized on them with our motive towards a cashless society.

We focused on facilitating primarily pre-paid mobile reloads through PayMaster to bring a new user experience. With that in mind, we optimized PayMaster app to be used in any language – Sinhala, Tamil and English. We also paid attention to simplistic features enabling even a non tech-savvy person to easily perform payments. Now, users can perform all the tasks like reloads, online payments with minimum effort.

Q. How important is security to an app like payMaster and what are the key inclusions in this app?

A. Security is paramount irrespective of the purpose of the app. We have and will continue to consider security as one key feature in PayMaster app. We have designed and implemented the mobile app as well as the back-end application according to the highest International Security standards. We have contracted one of the most well-respected security auditing firms in the world to conduct our security audits. Furthermore, we have completed an audit based on the guidelines provided by the Central Bank of Ceylon.

In terms of key features, we have included the concept of Gamification, a trending topic associated with most of the apps at present to increase user engagement by way of game-style mechanics. Users are rewarded with points for using the app on a regular basis, which they can use to do payments later on.

Q. What is your opinion about new disruptions like Huawei eco-system which is ideal for both developers and users?

A. There is certainly potential among Sri Lankans to create impactful apps and a platform like HMS with Huawei App Gallery fuels more energy to design apps that facilitate the lives of everyday users. At the same time, Huawei users will be facilitated with a range of useful apps making them hassle free with new apps being added on a frequent basis.

As per my knowledge, Huawei eco-system is extremely efficient and productive. Our current apps are available to download from Huawei app gallery and we are constantly improving our apps and new versions of the PayMaster app will also be released in parallel to other app store releases. It is a well-known fact that Sri Lankans love Huawei devices and the app gallery enables us as app developers to provide a highly optimized version for users.

Q. Have you started testing your apps on HMS? How has been the whole experience?

A. We have recently integrated PayMaster app with HMS and so far, the app has run smoothly. We are continuously improving the performance of the app with bug fixes to enhance customer experience.

User reviews suggest that PayMaster is performing way better with HMS. Huawei App Gallery is a great space for app developers like us as we can express ourselves more and more. Since an app gallery is not limited to a certain country, we have the capacity to reach global which is highly competitive and in a way, a major booster for upcoming app developers.