Finance and Accounting Outsourcing:

Sri Lanka promoted as BPO destination

The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) together with the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) conducted a series of events in London and Barcelona to promote Sri Lanka as a BPO destination for Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO). The events were organized to facilitate business linkage and to create global awareness of the Sri Lanka’s BPO capabilities.

Sri Lanka is globally recognized as a niche centre of excellence for Finance and Accounting Outsourcing with the world’s second largest pool of UK qualified accounting professionals. The Global Services magazine survey ranks Sri Lanka among the top 20 centres of excellence for FAO in the world.

Leading global companies such as WNS, Amba Research, Quttro and HSBC have set up their FAO centres in Sri Lanka among several other local and international companies to take advantage of the growing pool of highly qualified accounting professionals in Sri Lanka.

The Financial Services Industry Transformation and Outsourcing Strategies (FSO) Forum, held at Marriott, London recently was a premier forum focused specifically on transformation and outsourcing in the financial services industry attended by over 150 delegates.

At the FSO forum, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Amba Research Andrew Houston and Managing Director - European Business of WNS Eric Selvadurai conducted a panel discussion on “Financial Industry Turmoil - State of the Industry and best practices to stay competitive”. The panellists highlighted the key advantages offered by Sri Lanka for companies to locate their FAO services in Sri Lanka, showcasing how Amba Research and WNS happened to be first in Sri Lanka. SLASSCOM was the Platinum Sponsor for the event.

SLASSCOM also held a breakfast seminar on “Sri Lanka as a Finance and Accounting Offshoring Destination” organized by the National Outsourcing Association of UK at Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, London.

At the event over 60 delegates got the opportunity to hear from a leading UK insurance company, their experience of Finance and Accounting outsourcing to Sri Lanka. In addition, Director of Strategic Development, CIMA, UK Rick Sturge and COO/Director of ICTA Reshan Dewapura presented the value proposition offered to UK companies to offshore their Finance and Accounting processes to Sri Lanka.

Leading FAO service providers in Sri Lanka, Amba Research, Hellocorp, SMB Lanka and WNS made presentations on their operations at the event. Officials from High commission of Sri Lanka in London also attended the event. Vice President, SLASSCOM Ravi Abeysuriya also represented Sri Lanka at the first ever Africa Outsourcing Summit held recently at the Royal Automobile Club, London organized by the Commonwealth Business Council, UK.

The summit included presentations by over 20 speakers from fifteen emerging outsourcing nations that vie for a share of the global outsourcing business estimated to be worth USD 150 billion with a potential to double. Abeysuriya said, “The summit demonstrated nations, such as Egypt, Mauritius and South Africa has made a noteworthy progress in attracting a sizeable share of new business to their nations against the dominant nations in the outsourcing arena such as India, Philippines, Mexico and China”.

SLASSCOM coordinated the participation of five leading IT and BPO companies from Sri Lanka at the International Outsourcing Forum (IOF) in Barcelona, Spain. The forum brought together 70 senior-level decision makers from multinational companies with active outsourcing requirements, face-to-face with over 30 credible outsourcing suppliers and 25 investment promotion agencies.

At the forum, HelloCorp, Ridgecrest Asia, RNH InfoTec, Sabre Technologies and Virtusa Corporation had an exclusive opportunity to hold “one on one” meetings with several multinational companies with outsourcing requirements. Program Manager - Private Sector Development and Investment Promotion, ICTA Fayaz Hudah was a panellist at several panel discussions. Chief Executive Officer, HelloCorp Omar Fatha Rally said “The forum was an effective way to align our business to the latest developments in the outsourcing industry and to get first hand contacts with suppliers.”

The business linkage events were facilitated through the ICT Capacity Building Program of ICTA, Sri Lanka.

SLASSCOM acts as the catalyst of growth for the Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry by facilitating trade and business, propagation of education and employment, encouragement of research and innovation, and by supporting the creation of a progressive national policy framework. For more information visit.