Sampath Bank in NE

The Sampath Bank has opened 10 branches in the Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, to date. The Bank has opened 07 branches between 2008 and 2009.

There are plans to open 06 more branches in these areas before the end of the financial year.

Sampath Bank's first branch in the Northern Province was the Vavuniya branch opened in 2003, when the area was liberated from the terrorists. And the coverage of the Eastern Province commenced with the Ampara branch.

This was followed by the Trincomalee branch being opened in 2004. For the next four years the bank was unable to reach out to their customers any further in these areas due to the volatile situation that prevailed. The Batticaloa branch opened in early 2008, then Akkaraipattu and Kalmunai branches.

In 2009, Sampath Bank opened their Jaffna branch. This branch is also the second branch in the Northern Province for Sampath Bank. Kattankudy and Chenkalady branches were opened in the Eastern Province and the Mannar branch in the Northern Province.

Sampath Bank introduced the "Exclusive Ladies Banking Units" in the Akkaraipattu and Kalmunai branches. This allowed the Muslim ladies of the area to be able to attend to their banking needs, by themselves without having to go though any uncomfortable situations. This was the first time a Sri Lankan bank introduced this facility to their customers.

Sampath Bank ensured to position employees who were able to read write and speak in Tamil language, which was the most commonly spoken language in these areas with the Tamil and Muslim communities.

Thus, the bank was able to ensure that all their customers, irrespective of the language they spoke were able to avail themselves to banking products and services of global standards without any communication gap.

Sampath Bank has also been in the forefront of community development in these areas by supporting cottage industries, schools, differently-abled persons and been involved with various other sustainable development projects. By doing so the bank has been able to not only to lend a helping hand to the social development of the areas, but also to cultivate a valuable relationship with the people of the areas, who are the loyal customers of the bank.

With the expansion plans the bank hopes not only to reach out to a wider customer base and offer them world class banking facilities, but also to become a part of their everyday life and build a partnership for developing and enriching these communities that have been devastated by terrorism for nearly three decades.