LMD 100 Q&A

Q: What are the core values that make Pan Asia Bank one of the most people-friendly banks in the country?

A: Our bank has been strong in business banking – especially SME and retail banking. These were the areas we have been targeting through our 85 branches and with some innovative products that have come in, such as loans to government pensioners for the first time.

Our innovative ‘Champion Saver’ savings account offers a higher rate with greater flexibility to withdraw at any point of time. The ‘Daskam’ children’s savings account deposits an additional 10 percent for any deposit made to the account along with interest.

There are so many innovative products like these, targeting different segments in the country to ensure financial independence.

Our vision is to become the most ‘customer preferred’ and customer-centric bank in Sri Lanka. Naturally, we work hard towards that. Our staff remains aligned to that and are motivated on a regular basis to become the most customer preferred bank.

Q: What is your assessment of Sri Lanka’s resilience and recovery?

A: Many of our retail customers are definitely struggling with the cost of living. The demand for lending has declined because they cannot afford loans anymore. They try to work within their income; but with interest rates coming down, we expect consumer lending to grow.

As a socially responsible bank, we should support the people – apart from looking at profits alone – because we are emerging from a huge economic crisis. And people need assistance especially in terms of guidance and advice.

We have supported all our customers to build up their lives. That particular focus of ours remains. We are with them whenever they have a problem. There were issues pertaining to moratoriums whereby customers couldn’t pay – we supported genu­inely affected borrowers.

Q: How is your bank faring under existing macroeconomic conditions?

A: The focus going forward will also include corporate banking, which is vital to the global economy at present. So business banking will be one of our sharpest focusses. Our model has been focussed relatively strongly on retail and SME. We are also strong in our treasury function and looking at that department to grow the business further.

Q: What are the bank’s medium-term priorities?

A: Being a retail-centric bank, we have a footprint in the outstations as well. Our internet banking had an overwhelming response from outstation branches.

We have various SME development programmes. And in the COVID-19 period, we conducted a series of programmes on indust­rial relations to advise businesses on how to handle staff issues during the economic crisis.

We are also into green financing in a major way. Our programmes have ranged from Ambalantota for papaya cultivation to guava cultivation in Kekirawa. We also engage in sugar cane cultivation in Monaragala. All these are with regard to drip irrigation. We have ventured into territories that are unknown to many others.

Q: To what extent are AI-based technological advancements impacting your sector?

A: Almost all new technologies are based on artificial intelligence – for example, the Chatbot Virtual Assistant, which enhanced the digital experience for customers. We are at the forefront of adopting the latest technologies especially in our customer touch points and key processes, to provide and enhance the customer experience for our valued customers and partners.

There are methods whereby you can analyse risk with regard to different segments and also improve operational efficiency by digitalisation. With predictive analysis, what customers truly want can be analysed.

From 2018 to 2023, our digital transactions have doubled – whereas traditional transactions have remained the same. So naturally, banks have to go for digitalisation to improve.

Digitalisation will save a lot of time, money and paper, and lead to accuracy. With internet banking and systems, people would definitely gain through rapid banking transactions.

Right now, what customers want is not to visit a bank. Even though the thinking is that brick and mortar are on the way out, it’s also true that if there is a brick and mortar branch, people retain a certain confidence.

As a truly Sri Lankan bank, we are always open to new technologies while blending the banking experience of both worlds to generate value for customers, employees and all other partners.

Telephone: 4667800 | Email: naleen.edirisinghe@pabcbank.com | Website: www.pabcbank.com