PAN ASIA BANKING CORPORATION

RANK 23

NUMBER OF AWARDS 15

Q: How does your bank benchmark excellence?

A: Pan Asia Bank’s sustainable financial performance amidst the challenges induced by the global pandemic and economic crisis thereafter reflects its pursuit of excellence across all our operations. Despite the external environment, the bank continues to invest in and focus on the core operation, product management, people development and technology integration.

Being uniquely positioned as ‘The Truly Sri Lankan Bank’, Pan Asia Bank prioritises the delivery of a superior customer experience that combines Sri Lankan values with modern banking technologies for a more personalised touch. We remain focused on the achievement of our business strategy while remaining agile, responsive and ahead of the curve.

Naleen Edirisinghe
Chief Executive Officer Designate

A confluence of factors is necessary for delivering excellence, broadly classified under the ‘people, planet and profit’ philosophy, which ensures that the bank does right by all its stakeholders and delivers on its brand promise while performing its core banking operations with an ethical approach.

In 2022, Pan Asia Bank demonstrated resilience in its financial performance amidst a multitude of adversities, reflecting judicious portfolio management and prudency in managing its asset quality.

Q: In what ways do awards and accolades enable businesses to strive for betterment during economic upheavals?

A: We believe awards and accolades are but outcomes of our actions and strategy. Certainly, awards and accolades give us a sense of pride and motivation to stretch further. External recognition also helps us to know what we are doing right and where we need to improve.

It is imperative for all organisations to benchmark themselves against peers periodically to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. Pan Asia Bank works towards the betterment of society and the environment, by keeping sustainability, as well as social and environmental responsibility, at its heart.

Q: How do local awards and recognition schemes fare in comparison to their global and regional counterparts?

A: We believe that both local and global awards, and recognition programmes, are valid. Among these, the ones that are truly independent and leverage on scientific assessment are more valuable. Unfortunately, there are very few local awards programmes, which leaves a vacuum for some business categories.

Q: How can awards and accolades help businesses compete on the world stage?

A: Awards programmes definitely help local entities to benchmark against regional and global peers, and learn through their best practices. Local businesses have to create global links and awards are the first step in understanding where your organisation stands.

“Bigger is not necessarily better – Pan Asia Bank has been competing successfully with larger counterparts in the banking sector on the strength of its services

Q: Awards and accolades – motivation or pressure…?

A: I would say it’s definitely motivation because if you receive awards during a challenging time, it shows visionary management and the ability to do what’s right by people. The past two years exposed many organisations as the multiple crises served as pressure tests to see which of them walked the talk when it came to sustainability, employee engagement and so on.

Q: What is your take on the ability of smaller businesses to compete with larger organisations through such schemes?

A: Bigger is not necessarily better. Pan Asia Bank has been competing successfully with larger counterparts in the banking sector on the strength of its services, winning key segment awards for best green banking, best treasury operations, best product propositions and so on.

In its 27th year, Pan Asia Bank is one of the strongest banks in Sri Lanka, backed by a plethora of local and international awards and accolades, bestowed on the bank year after year.

Pioneering many firsts, Pan Asia Bank was the first bank to integrate with the LankaClear common interface of the LankaPay Online Payment Platform (LPOPP).

As for awards, Pan Asia Bank secured the Runner-up Award – Banking Sector and Merit Award – Corporate Governance category at the National Business Excellence Awards (NBEA); was selected by LMD as one of its top 15 ‘Most Awarded Entities’ and ‘Most Respected Entities’ for 2021/22; and ranked amongst Business Today’s Top 40 business organisations for 2021/2022.

Pan Asia Bank also won two key awards at the Effie Awards 2022 – Finance Category (Gold) and ‘David vs. Goliath’ category (Bronze).

These awards and accolades demonstrate Pan Asia Bank’s status as one of the most awarded banks in the country.