Continues to pioneer IT solutions in the Sri Lankan Banking and Finance industry

Sampath Bank was proud to be recognized at the NBQSA for the 9^th consecutive year with several top honours for its innovative IT Solutions at the National Best Quality ICT Awards 2021 (NBQSA), which was held recently at the Sirimavo Bandaranayake Memorial Exhibition Centre, proving the bank is the pioneer in introducing State-of-Art IT solutions to the Banking and Finance industry in Sri Lanka.

NBQSA is a national level ICT competition organized by the Sri Lankan section of the British Computer Society (BCSSL), a leading professional society in the field of computers and information systems. Sampath Bank won the Gold Award for ‘Touchless Withdrawal’, the latest trend introduced by the bank as an innovative and preventive measure for the spread of Covid-19, under the Research and Development project category.  The ‘Touchless Withdrawal’ solution was launched in August 2021 for the first time in Sri Lanka and possibly in the Asia Pacific region.

For this groundbreaking, innovative feature of ‘Touchless Withdrawal’, Sampath Bank PLC emerged ‘WINNER’ out of 17 countries at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, hosted in Malaysia recently and currently stands as Sri Lanka’s only bank to have ever won an APICTA award. At the NBQSA 2021 ceremony, a special recognition was awarded for this victory in the presence of Hon. Minister Namal Rajapaksha.

Touchless Cash Withdrawal is a revolutionary digital solution to the Sri Lankan market. With this initiative, customers, and customers of all other banks in the country are now able to withdraw funds in their accounts and cards without even having to physically touch the machine, by visiting any of Sampath’s 450 ATMs located around the island. All they have to do is scan the QR code displayed on the ATM screen with the help of the Sampath WePay app.

Moreover, Sampath Bank was able to achieve the Merit Award for the ‘Blockchain Technology based Shared KYC Platform’ under the Research and Development project category and another Merit Award for the ‘Sampath Document Approval System’ under the In-house category.

Commenting on the bank’s achievements, Ajith Salgado - Group Chief Information Officer, Sampath Bank PLC, said, “As a banking and finance entity operating in these modern times, we at Sampath Bank always strive to stay ahead of IT and enhance the digital experience of our customers. That is why we’ve consciously dedicated our time and efforts to making steady progress in banking with technology. The recognition we’ve received is a testimony to that dedication and enthusiasm”

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 and slip-less banking to name a few. The Bank continues to steadily transform itself into a technology-driven financial services provider whilst keeping true to its traditions and values.

Image shows K. V. Kuganathan - Immediate Past Chairman, Executive Committee of BCS Sri Lanka Section together with Hon. Mins. Namal Rajapaksa - State Minister of Digital Technology and Entrepreneur Development handing over the award for Touchless Withdrawal - Gold award – Research and Development Category, which also won the Gold award at APICTA Awards, to Ajith Salgado - Group Chief Information Officer, Sampath Bank PLC. Also in the pic (l-r) Waruna Sri Dhanapala - Additional Secretary (Regional Administration Reforms) at State Ministry of National Security, Home Affairs & Disaster Management, Oshada Senanayake - Chairman, ICTA, Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe - Executive Committee Member, BCS Sri Lanka Section and Chairman, FITIS, Pasan Manukith - AGM - IT, Sampath Bank PLC, Thushara Jayathunga - AGM - IT EDP, Sampath Bank PLC), Vajeendra S Kandegamage - Chairman, Executive Committee of BCS Sri Lanka Section, Dushyantha Dassanayake - AGM - IT Systems, Sampath Bank PLC, Fairooz Habeeb - President - Software, FITIS and Darshin Pathinayake - AGM - Card Center, Sampath Bank PLC

Image shows, Chandana Rodrigo - Additional Secretary, Prime Minister's Office handing over the award for Blockchain Technology base Shared KYC Platform - Merit Award  Research and Development category to Nuwan Wickramanayake - Chief Manager - Digital Banking, Sampath Bank PLC. Also in the picture (l-r) (Ms.) Mihiri Dissanayake - Executive Committee Member, BCS Sri Lanka Section, Anura De Alwis - Chief Digital Economy Officer, ICTA), (Ms.) Deepashika Gunasekera - Manager, BCS Sri Lanka Regional Office, (Ms.) Rukshani Aponsu - Chief Projects and Delivery Officer, Arimac Lanka, Manula Nanayakkara - Manager - IT Systems Development, Sampath Bank PLC, Menake Fernando - Manager - IT Systems Development, Sampath Bank PLC, Binal Chathuranga - Senior Lead Network Engineer, Sampath Bank PLC and Aruna Krishantha - Manager - Network Security, Sampath Bank PLC