Innovation and creativity are criteria that always help an entity to stand out and help certain units to gain momentum to go forward. Sampath Bank is a bank that had stood the width of time and having been in this competitive industry and has come quite a distance for the past 25 years.

With the willingness and attitude to work towards establishing themselves as the number one bank in the country, Sampath Bank strives to maintain quality banking through the provision of excellent service, close interaction with its clientele and to build that indispensable trust among each other.

Daily News Business, in an interview with Sampath Bank, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Nanda Fernando, for the Tea with column.

Q:What is the concept behind Sampath Bank and how does your bank make a mark in the local banking industry?

A: We have the motivation of creating innovational change which would form new opportunities for our Sri Lankan customers. The main thing is to provide the Sri Lankan banking community with “convenience” which would make banking much more comfortable and meet challenges.

We continue to expand on our basis of innovational changes through IT influenced and technological advancements into our products and with those being introduced in today’s market, it is vital that we stay ahead of competition. Provision of proper infrastructure for our clients so that they do not think of banking as being an aggravation to everyday life and to give them the overall satisfaction of being able to deal with hassle-free transactions with less cost at the customers utmost convenience.

Sampath Bank, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Nanda Fernando. Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe.

A: Over the last four years, we have been able to double the size of the bank. With the expansion into the North and East with 209 branches as of now, it is time to build volume and consolidation for the bank. To improve procedures and get the best out of this expansion, we are gearing towards producing new product developments, system innovation and time expansion. We have also extended banking hours at our Super branches, to serve from 7am to 10pm, 365 days a year, irrespective of any holiday.

Sampath Bank is a homegrown bank that understands the culture and mindset of its clientele and their needs and we are in a much better situation to cater towards them. That is an advantage over some bank branches that have been established in the country today.

We have 21 regional offices spread island wide and these centers engage in handling loan requirements and where convenience is necessary for the customer.

The Regional Manager would visit the business and provide quick decisions. Such requirements are met immediately, through the visits, instant evaluation and ultimately, the decision with the help of technological evaluation as well from the Head Office.

Q: How do you see Sampath Bank progressing in the banking industry with its current role in the local banking sector?

A: We work processes which would help to reduce costs. With the current developments in mobile banking, today, banking has become more convenient in our daily routines and making it as convenient as possible is essential with today’s trends and lifestyle. One major factor would be branch expansion, with more customers getting the ability to stay in touch with their transacting responsibilities and in turn, expansion would help reach a wider community. Wider communities are able to get this exposure when it comes to mobile banking, where less people would need to visit banks to do their day to day transactions, making them up to date and in line with today’s innovative progress.

The Bank’s total advances had grown by 23% to Rs. 208 Bn and total Deposits had grown by 24.3% to Rs. 243 Bn by the end of 2012.

Profile

An old boy of St Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia.
Was engaged in scouting and was a President’s Scout with achievement as a Leader Trainer (LT).
Qualified from the Institute of Bankers, Sri Lanka.
Masters in Business Administration, Sikkim Manipal University of India.
Functioned as the District Commissioner for Scouts, Colombo.
Commenced banking career at Hatton National Bank in 1981.
Joined Sampath Bank in 1987, the year the bank was initiated.
Recently gained the Sampath Service Award for 25 years service to the bank.

Q: What factors contributed to the bank’s overall performance in the recent past?

A: Sampath Bank had achieved a Net Interest Income growth of 29.8% which enabled us to record a profit after tax of Rs. 5.1 billion for the financial year 2012.

We have also succeeded to reach areas where banking facilities was at a rustic situation. We have also embarked on processes to assist people in improving their businesses, some of them having been in the importing and exporting trade can now do them on line. We help start-up businesses to come forth and assist through project financing especially for customers with less collateral; we would acquire project assets as security.

Q: With regards to rising interest rates, borrowings, lendings and global banking, how do you see the future of the bank in this industry?

A: The Central Bank believes that interest rates would stabilize and even reduce over the next couple of quarters and the same trend is seen where the cost of borrowing will be reduced. With interest rates going down, investors can increase their volumes. High tech banking is advancing at a rapid speed and banks work towards establishing systems with less complexity for customers.

Competition from non-traditional entities is also seemingly emerging and for the next generation, we see a reduced usage of cash.

A: When comparing strengths we are in a solid competitive position. We have also succeeded in achieving a profitable stance with reasonably good balance sheets. We have passionate, motivated and committed staff members and possess a strong sales force. We feel we can achieve a good position and we are geared to realize the best of banks among others.

With our strong technological platform, know-how, processes, people and policies backed by our balanced and knowledgeable Board of Directors, we see that the bank would be able to achieve greater heights.

We are looking to reach a higher level of customer satisfaction and want to build the Sampath brand that will be close to the hearts of millions.

Focus is laid out on building a customer base which would be drawn to cross-sell various non-banking products, maintain an employee-satisfaction of over 75%, focus on bringing the bank to the best level in the country, offer that trust and loyalty basis where employees will be energized and recognized to be able to decline other bank offers. A changing outlook of the bank is essential to keep it ahead of par amongst its peers.

A: Application of differentiating strategies is important in order to increase deposit growth. Operational strategies, Marketing strategies, Human resource strategies and IT strategies are applied to promote growth of deposits. Operational strategies would create more time for convenient banking.

Marketing strategies would bring awareness and benefits for clients. To establish convenience through systems and procedures, IT strategies would be applied. Human resource strategies would include focusing on keeping staff motivated and knowledgeable about their respective professions.

Q: What measures are taken to curtail the expansion of Non-Performing Loans (NPL)?

A: All banks need to work on ensuring credit quality. In addition, Sampath Bank’s NPL advances have been tackled in two ways: we have ensured that the levels of new loans have been of good quality and the recoveries of existing loans have been very satisfactory.

The Non-performing ratio was at 2.07% in 2012 which is an improvement, compared to 2.65% in 2011. We have worked on recovery of loans that have gone bad in the past and on recovering hardcore loans to improve on the ratio.

Currently, banks are expected to maintain their accounts under new accounting standards.

A: There is a system being applied for small time customers who posses less capital or collateral. Banks seek equity and other impartial entities and for such customers we have identified the potential and ability.

We help customers to sort out the issue of not having suitable equity as collaterals and assist them on advisory levels, develop supply chains, help with marketing strategies, accounting and financial advisory services.

As the thinking of government is to increase the GDP growth, the Central Bank is keen to see it escalate in time to come which shall help the inflation rate to come down for the exchange rate to stabilize and for our exports to grow.

Sampath Bank striving to maintain quality banking

Profile