~ Streamlined back-office processes to enable 24-hour document processing

~ Launches training initiatives to prepare staff for enhanced customer engagement 

Sri Lanka’s most progressive private commercial bank, Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB), conducted a special ceremony to mark the opening of its centralized processing centre, titled Center of Excellence to accommodate its back office operations for its extensive network of Customer Service Centers. The Center of Excellence, situated at No.10, Sri Uttarananda Mawatha, Colombo 03, was established by bringing together HNB’s Centralized Operations Department (COD) and the Centralized Credit Operations (CCO) units and houses over 350 staff.

The opening ceremony was graced by Dilshan Rodrigo, Chief Operating Officer of HNB as the chief guest and Dr. Rohan Karunaratne, Board Director of HNB, Damith Pallewatte, Chief Risk Officer/Assistant General Manager – Risk of HNB, Asanga Uduwela, Assistant General Manager Operations of HNB as guests of honor and other corporate management members.

In his address Mr. Rodrigo commented that this is historic step in the digital transformation journey, where branch banking would focus on customer acquisition, relationship building and retention, the centre of excellence would focus on streamlined processes, systems, skilled staff, delivering quality with speed to effectively support the front line. The ultimate test of success would be to drive customer experience and satisfaction to a different level. There are significant efforts being made to incorporate best practices not just by improving existing processes but moving in to redesign and innovations of our processes to match the digital lifestyles of customers today.

The opening of HNB’s Center of Excellence demonstrates our commitment to drive best-in-class customer experience in delivering the range of retail lending products to our customers. In this quest we have studied the entire process from end to end and remain committed to deliver the best solution that meets the needs of our increasingly digital customers ” Damith Pallewatte, Chief Risk Officer/Assistant General Manager – Risk at HNB elaborated.

“When it comes to back office operations, we always have to remind ourselves continuously that we need to serve both our internal and external customers. We have to ensure best conditions are provided to branches to enable them to provide customer satisfaction at highest levels to all our customers. Branches have been requesting for a long time to centralize back office operations, in order to provide quality and consistent service for customers. Our team here is geared to provide best level of service when it comes to providing back office services, and also thanked the service providers for the great support provided to carry out outsourced operations” Asanga Uduwela, Assistant General Manager - Operations of HNB commented.

The digitalization and centralization of its back end processes are anticipated to drastically streamline HNB’s backend processes, enabling faster turnaround, improved and consistent quality in interactions with customers.

Operating across 252 customer service centers island-wide, HNB has one of the most extensive retail footprints in the Sri Lankan banking industry. Given that all major back-end processes – spanning both Credit and Operational processes - will now be centralized at the Center of Excellence, HNB aims to completely free up its branch teams to focus on delivering highly personalized and specialized banking solutions to its clients, all while building lasting relationships founded on trust and mutual respect.

Photo caption: (Top left) Dr Rohan Karunaratne, Board Director, HNB opening the new Centre of Excellence.  Dilshan Rodrigo, Chief Operating Officer, Damith Pallewatte, Chief Risk Officer/Assistant General Manager - Risk,  Asanga Uduwela, Assistant General Manager – Operations, Chiranthi Cooray, Chief Human Resource Officer/Deputy General Manager – Human Resources, Kalum Wijesooriya, Assistant General Manager – Deposits & Remittances/Chief Employee Experience Officer, Ajith Ferdinando, Senior Manager – Centralized Operations and Thushari Ranaweera, Deputy General Manager – Legal/Board Secretary of HNB are also in the picture.

(Top right) The Staff members Centralized Credit Operations Department.

(Bottom left) The Staff members of the Centralized Operations Department and (Bottom right) The new office premises