This page provides AWS financial institution customers with information about the legal and regulatory requirements in Sri Lanka that may apply to their use of AWS services.
Regulations
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Can financial institutions use AWS?
Yes. Financial institutions in Sri Lanka are permitted to use cloud services, provided that they comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, such as those described below.
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Who are the financial regulators?
Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) supervises financial institutions such as banks, licensed finance companies, specialized leasing companies, and licensed microfinance companies.
The Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRC) supervises insurance companies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) supervises capital market companies such as market intermediaries, stock brokers, exchanges, and managing companies of unit trusts.
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What regulations apply to financial institutions using AWS?
Financial Institutions in Sri Lanka may be subject to a number of different legal and regulatory requirements when they use cloud services.
Regulations issued by CBSL, IRC, and the SEC, together with relevant guidelines, provide a framework for financial institutions in Sri Lanka when they are planning to use cloud services. Key legislation and guidelines include the following:
- Outsourcing of Business Operations of a Licensed Commercial Bank and Licensed Specialized Bank, Direction No. 02 of 2012 (Outsourcing Directive for Banks)
- Finance Business Act Directions - Outsourcing of Business Operations No. 7 of 2018 (Outsourcing Directions for Finance Companies)
The above framework covers a variety of contractual and operational areas, including due diligence, risk management, business continuity, and monitoring and oversight.
Customers that have questions about the applicable regulations, and how these may apply to their use of AWS services, can reach out to their account representative.
Regulations are changing rapidly in this space, and AWS is working to help customers proactively respond to new rules and guidelines. AWS encourages its financial institutions customers to obtain appropriate advice on their compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements that are relevant to their business, including other local regulations, guidelines and laws.
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Key considerations for financial institutions using AWS
AWS is committed to offering customers a strong compliance framework and advanced tools and security measures that customers can use to evaluate, meet, and demonstrate compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Financial institutions who are using or planning to use AWS services can take the following steps to better understand their compliance needs:
1. Consider the purpose of the workload(s) under consideration and the relevant categories of data in order to anticipate which legal and regulatory requirements may apply.
2. Assess the criticality of the relevant workload(s) in light of local requirements and procure the relevant approvals or issue the appropriate notice. For example, under the Outsourcing Directive for Banks or Outsourcing Directions for Finance Companies (as applicable), Banks and Licensed Finance Companies may need to obtain CBSL’s prior approval before using AWS services for certain types of business functions.
3. Review the AWS Shared Responsibility Model and map AWS responsibilities and customer responsibilities according to each AWS service that will be used. Customers can also use AWS Artifact to access AWS’s audit reports and conduct their assessment of the control responsibilities.
4. Customers who have further questions about how AWS services can enable their security and compliance needs, or who would like more information, can contact their account representative.
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Key data privacy and protection considerations for financial institutions using AWS
Financial institutions in Sri Lanka using AWS should also consider applicable privacy requirements, including local privacy requirements in Sri Lanka. The AWS whitepaper Using AWS in the Context of Common Privacy and Data Protection Considerations provides useful information to customers using AWS cloud services to store or process personal data.
If customers process or are planning to process the personal data of data subjects in the European Union (EU), they should visit AWS’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Center. More information on these requirements is included in Navigating GDPR Compliance on AWS.
Resources
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General
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Compliance Programs
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General
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Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) on AWS
This guide provides customers with information to be able to plan for and document the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance of their AWS workloads. This includes the selection of controls that meet specific PCI DSS requirements, planning of evidence gathering to meet assessment testing procedures, and explaining their control implementation to their PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).
This document provides information to assist customers who want to use AWS to store or process content containing personal data, in the context of common privacy and data protection considerations. It will help customers understand the way AWS services operate, including how customers can address security and encrypt their content. The geographic locations where customers can choose to store content and other relevant considerations. The respective roles the customer and AWS each play in managing and securing content stored on AWS services.
AWS has many compliance-enabling features that you can use for your regulated workloads in the AWS cloud. These features allow you to achieve a higher level of security at scale. Cloud-based compliance offers a lower cost of entry, easier operations, and improved agility by providing more oversight, security control, and central automation.
The purpose of this paper is to describe how AWS and our customers in the financial services industry achieve operational resilience using AWS services.
This paper provides insight into classification schemes for public and private organizations to leverage when moving data to the cloud. It identifies practices and models currently implemented by global first movers and early adopters, examines how implementation of these schemes can simplify cloud adoption, and recommends practices to harmonize national requirements to internationally recognized standards and frameworks.
This paper addresses: The real and perceived security risks expressed by governments when they demand in-country data residency. Commercial, public sector, and economic impact of in-country data residency policies with a focus on government data. Considerations for governments to evaluate before enforcing requirements that can unintentionally limit public sector digital transformation goals leading to increased cybersecurity risk.
This document is intended to provide information to assist AWS customers with integrating AWS into their existing control framework supporting their IT environment. This document includes a basic approach to evaluating AWS controls and provides information to assist customers with integrating control environments. This document also addresses AWS-specific information around general cloud computing compliance questions.
Guidelines for systematically reviewing and monitoring your AWS resources for security best practices.
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Compliance Programs

We are continually adapting to evolving regulations. Check often for updates.