Receives Top Ten Best Corporate Citizen, Category Award for Governance and Merit Award at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2021

Sampath Bank PLC was ranked as one of Sri Lanka’s Top Ten Corporate Citizens for the year 2021 at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2021 organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, recently.

The Bank was also bestowed with the Category Award for Governance at this forum for displaying high standards of governance in the structure and composition of its Board and Board Committees, its practices to ensure ethical behaviour and its reporting to shareholders.

Furthermore, Sampath Bank received a Merit Certificate at the Best Project Sustainability Awards held alongside this event in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the nation for over two decades through its flagship sustainability initiative, ‘Wewata Jeewayak’ (Life to Tanks) tank restoration program.

These recognitions are a further testament to the Bank’s steadfast efforts around driving performance across all elements of the triple bottom line in accordance with the 3 principles of sustainable development – Environment (Planet), Society (People) and Economy (Profits).

Being held for the 18^th consecutive year, the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards are regarded as the highest honour that a corporate entity can earn in Sri Lanka for its ‘Higher State of Corporate Excellence.’ It recognizes best practices of organizations that have successfully achieved a sustainable balance between environmental, social, and economic performance.

“We are honoured to be rated amongst the Top Ten Corporate Citizens for the year 2021, alongside some of the most revered names in business in Sri Lanka,” said Nanda Fernando, Managing Director, Sampath Bank PLC. “Responsible enterprises have a duty to move beyond wealth creation and use the power of their business to add value to society and protect the environment. Hence, Sampath Bank has always strived to serve as an active partner in nation building and ecological conservation while continuing to transform Sri Lanka’s financial services landscape with our innovative solutions. This has been instrumental in the Bank’s rise as one of the country’s most loved, respected and successful business entities. We remain committed to delivering more value to the nation and presenting a better future for all Sri Lankans.”

Sampath Bank has always done everything in its power to drive environmental sustainability. Continuing to transform the financial services industry through its innovative digital solutions, the Bank strives to minimize the impact of its operations on the environment through the use of technology. This includes programs around greenhouse gas management and waste management, efficient use of energy, development of green products and introducing and driving the adoption of digital banking service.

Going beyond its core business, Sampath Bank also has several ongoing strategic CSR initiatives aimed at protecting the environment. The Bank is working with Biodiversity Sri Lanka on restoring degraded forest land in Kanneliya, supporting the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) of Sri Lanka’s conservation efforts financially and encouraging children to be more environmentally conscious through its ‘Gasai Mamai Pubudu Pothai’ initiative.

On the social sustainability front, Sampath Bank remains committed to delivering greater value to all its stakeholders – customers, employees, investors, business partners and society at large. From nurturing a diversified workforce through strong employee relations programs and training and development initiatives to empowering customers through its pathbreaking financial solutions as well as efforts around driving financial literacy and discipline to allocating a portion of its profits to strategic CSR programs that address key national priorities in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2018 – 2022 and accelerate socio economic growth, the Bank goes above and beyond its call of duty to support all stakeholders. At the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Bank had rolled out several measures to protect the health and safety of its customers, staff and business partners and offered additional relief and assistance as well.

In terms of financial sustainability, Sampath Bank focuses on stakeholder wealth maximization. Its strong fundamentals and sound strategy together with its well-defined governance structures and code of conduct have enabled the Bank to record steady and sustained growth and generate economic value for all its stakeholders, consistently, despite global and local challenges.

Given the scope and scale of its sustainability efforts, Sampath Bank has a robust sustainability reporting framework to ensure complete transparency and accountability. The Bank adheres to the Global Sustainability Standards Board’s Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) International Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework, and the guidelines on ESG Reporting issued by the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Sampath Bank is a 100% local bank that has deeply rooted itself in the hearts of the people of Sri Lanka. Established in 1987, the bank has become a state-of-the-art financial institution that continues to be a market leader today thanks to its constant innovation and customer focused approach to business. It has introduced many firsts to the Sri Lankan banking sector including the introduction of ATMs to Sri Lanka, extended banking hours, slip-less banking and touchless ATM withdrawals, to name a few. The Bank continues to steadily transform itself into a technology-driven financial services provider whilst keeping true to traditions and values.

Image : Ayodhya Iddawela Perera, Senior Deputy General Manager - Corporate Banking, Sampath Bank PLC receiving the award for ‘Top Ten Best Corporate Citizen’ from Her Excellency Trine Eskedal of Norwegian Embassy. Also in the picture (l-r) Vish Govindasamy, Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Duminda Hulangamuwa, Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce

Tharaka Ranwala, Senior Deputy General Manager - Group Marketing, Deposit Mobilization & Digitalization, Sampath Bank PLC receiving the ‘Category Award for Governance’ from Duminda Hulangamuwa, Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Also in the picture (l-r) Nuwan Pathirana, Manager - CSR & Corporate Sustainability, Sampath Bank PLC and Dr. Ananda Mallawatantri, Chairperson - Panel of Evaluators