Which ATMs in Sri Lanka actually work reliably with a foreign Mastercard

In 2026 the most reliable ATMs for foreign Mastercard/Visa are Commercial Bank (the green logo) and Sampath Bank (blue/orange), which accept foreign cards across their network and have higher per-withdrawal limits (around 100,000 LKR per transaction). HSBC, Standard Chartered and DFCC also work well. Some Peoples Bank and Bank of Ceylon ATMs only accept local cards or have low limits (around 40,000 LKR per transaction), which becomes expensive in foreign-bank fees when you withdraw small amounts repeatedly. Standard fees: the local bank charges around 600 LKR per foreign-card withdrawal, plus your home bank may add an international transaction fee. Always select "decline" on dynamic currency conversion (the screen offering to charge in your home currency); you lose ~5 percent if you accept. Withdraw bigger amounts less often to minimise the per-transaction fees.