S V Ramanan, Chief Executive Officer (India & South Asia) at Intellect Design Arena, a global leader in first-principle-based enterprise-grade financial technology, shares insights on how eMACH.ai, the most comprehensive, composable and intelligent open finance platform powered by First Principles Thinking, is enabling financial institutions to modernise, personalise, and compete in a fast-changing digital era, empowering banks to move from transactional service providers to adaptive, ecosystem-driven partners for their customers.
Can you tell us about Intellect and its journey thus far?
Absolutely. Intellect is a specialist in financial technology with a heritage of over 30 years. We originally started as Polaris Software, and in 2014, the business underwent a strategic demerger. The services arm was sold to Virtusa, while we retained full ownership of our intellectual property. That move allowed us to focus exclusively on product innovation for the global financial services industry. Since then, Intellect has grown into a global leader in enterprise-grade financial technology.
Our solutions span Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, Wealth, Capital Markets, Insurance, Treasury, ESG and Digital Technology for Commerce. We have been active in Sri Lanka for over a decade now, working with a strong base of 10 clients, six financial institutions and four brokerage firms. I have been in the industry for over 30 years, with stints at Accenture, Barclays, and in the technology sectors of telecom and insurance. I joined Intellect six years ago to lead our work across India and South Asia, including Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. This is a market we care deeply about.
You launched eMACH.ai in 2023. What does it represent, and how does it respond to today’s banking needs?
Banking has changed dramatically. From mainframes and branch hours, we have moved into an era where customers expect their bank to function like Netflix, on-demand, contextual, and intuitive. Today’s customers want to initiate transactions at midnight, on any device, from anywhere. This expectation has made traditional IT infrastructure outdated. That’s where eMACH.ai comes in.
It’s our next-generation platform, launched two years ago, which enables real-time banking, hyper-personalisation, and seamless integration across the financial ecosystem. This platform enables institutions to move from static, one-size-fits all offerings to curated, contextual products that respond to real-world financial moments, such as a loan prepayment, a sudden market shift, a cross-border payment, or a regulatory trigger. The result is smarter decisions, faster time-to-market, and enhanced customer trust.
What impact has eMACH.ai had in Sri Lanka over the past year?
We have seen growing traction. At our last event in Colombo, over 100 senior bankers participated to explore the potential of eMACH.ai. Since then, many institutions have begun actively evaluating the platform across core banking, lending, corporate banking, and teller solutions. While I can’t name clients yet, several deals are in the final stages with board and regulatory approvals pending. We are optimistic about formal announcements soon. What’s encouraging is that Sri Lankan banks are now looking beyond cost to assess the long-term value of technology.
What makes eMACH.ai different from other platforms?
The difference lies in its architecture and philosophy. eMACH.ai is built to be Event-driven, Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless architecture, and AI-powered. Every transaction, such as receiving a salary, making a purchase, or repaying a loan, is treated as an “event” that triggers a sequence of intelligent responses.
This is powered by microservices, which means high concurrency and resilience. Whether it’s a $1 or $100 transaction, every user gets real-time service. AI comes in to understand each customer’s behaviour, anticipate needs, and offer personalised experiences. Instead of mass-marketing a car loan to everyone, banks can now provide relevant products to the right person at the right time.
How does this translate into benefits for Sri Lankan banks and their customers?
The most apparent benefit is customer delight, on-demand, personalised banking that aligns with lifestyle patterns. However, beyond that, eMACH.ai enables banks to become more efficient, agile, and competitive. Take SMEs, for example. A business that’s growing shouldn’t have to restart paperwork every time it needs working capital. With eMACH.ai, the bank can preemptively offer financing based on past behaviour.
That’s the power of contextual banking. From a systems perspective, our technology also reduces infrastructure load and processing times. In Bangladesh, for instance, our core banking platform completes day-end processing in 15 minutes, compared to six hours with some global vendors. That’s a tangible value advantage.
As trends like embedded banking and open finance emerge, how does eMACH.ai help banks stay ahead?
Let me give an example. We work with Otto, a central e-commerce platform in Germany. Through eMACH.ai, Otto can offer buy-now-pay-later services at checkout. This kind of real-time credit decisioning, at the point of sale, not after, is where banking is headed. For Sri Lanka, this means banks can integrate with broader digital ecosystems, such as hotels, airlines, and fintechs, and offer integrated services like rewards, insurance, or financing without friction. The future of banking is not standalone apps, but ecosystems. eMACH.ai is built to enable that.
How do you see eMACH.ai supporting the broader vision of financial modernisation in Sri Lanka?
There are two key roles: first, competitiveness. Sri Lanka’s exporters require affordable and seamless cross-border transactions. eMACH.ai helps banks offer globally competitive solutions and integrate faster with new digital platforms, including CBDCs and digital trade rails. Second, financial inclusion. With mobile-first architecture, banks can extend services to remote areas where branches don’t exist.
By integrating Know Your Customer (KYC) across banking, insurance, and investment services, we reduce the burden on customers while enhancing compliance. Ultimately, this architecture supports Sri Lanka’s vision for a digitally inclusive and globally connected financial sector.
What’s your key message to banks evaluating transformation today?
Don’t wait. Legacy systems are becoming liabilities, both in terms of cost and customer experience. Transformation is no longer optional. The question is whether you want to lead or lag. Choose technology not just by upfront price, but by total value in efficiency, scalability, and adaptability. eMACH.ai offers all three. And as the market becomes more open, the cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of change.