Discussing why the bankings sector is prioritising investing in digital technologies, Sandun Hapugoda, who is the Country Manager – Mastercard Sri Lanka and Maldives, reminisced: “I think financial institutions took 20-25 years to really understand what Bill Gates meant by his statement [in1994] – ‘banking is necessary but banks are not’.”

“I don’t think it is a choice; instead, it’s a matter of when,” he continued, adding: “Not so long ago, in the 1990s employees took half a day’s leave to fulfil their basic financial services requirements such as bill settlements and passbook updates. Now, times have changed and people maintain extremely busy lifestyles with changed priorities, not only in relation to banking activities but also regarding many other aspects of their lives.”

Hapugoda pointed to statistics, noting that globally, there are about 8.2 billion mobile connections, which is more than the total population of the world.

“In Sri Lanka, our mobile phone penetration is about 149 percent, out of which a large number are smartphone users. Consequently, the number [of people] who access services through their mobile phones keeps increasing. I would say that availability of these resources also calls for digitalisation of financial services,” he elaborated.

So he pondered: “The question is whether we need to focus on expanding the branch network or put in a significant effort in building the digital infrastructure targeting this tech savvy population.”

Hapugoda continued: “Already, more interactions between customers and banks happen digitally than through visits to a branch… However, this does not mean that we don’t need a physical presence, which is good for building consumer confidence among other reasons.”

“Further, there is ever growing competition in the finance services field – many fintechs, also referred to as challenger banks and neo banks, are coming up. They challenge the conventional banking sector with different product offerings and better consumer experiences in a one stop shop,” he observed.

These new players collaborate with each other “to ensure best possible customer encounters when delivering their services,” he noted, while emphasising the importance for traditional banks to adopt digitalisation.

Then, referring to the ‘great resignation’ or the ‘big quit’ in 2021 – when millions of people left their jobs across the world – he opined: “The way people perceive work has changed drastically. Employees are neither looking for stability like they used to nor just at their pay to collect money.”

Especially since the advent of the pandemic, people have begun questioning themselves about job satisfaction and the purpose of their work, he added: “While some believe that this mindset will change to trends observed pre-COVID, I do not think this is true – people now want to serve a bigger purpose in their lives, and wonder whether they’re doing the right thing by themselves and their communities.”

To this end, Hapugoda deliberated: “The sooner companies realise these transformations, the better it would be for them to be proactive about retaining their staff. The most number of hours of our days are spent working, so providing flexible hours and being more conscious about the impact of our jobs on society, the economy and the environment – through job objectives and targets – will improve retention of especially young workers.”

Airing his views on the credit card sector, he stated: “Credit cards are here to stay for sure. Their interest rates have reduced over the past few years and this segment is growing the world over.”

“Credit cards are built on the concept of paying later; and now there are better ‘pay later’ options to enhance the facilities offered. Therefore, you can use these cards on a deferred payment network to get an additional credit period, thereby extending the usual settlement timeline offered by the credit card,” he concluded.