CDB wins Most Innovative Company of the Year Award at Dare to Dream Awards 2023 Sri Lanka Edition

From left: SAP Indian Subcontinent Senior Director Mid Market Amit Kapoor, CDB Director – Business Operations Dave De Silva, Assistant General Manager – Information Systems Rizvi Kareem, and John Keells IT COO and JKH Senior VP Neomal Perera 

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB), has been awarded the Most Innovative Company of the Year at the inaugural Dare to Dream Awards 2023 Sri Lanka Edition, which was powered by SAP together with John Keells IT.  

The award recognises CDB’s commitment to revolutionising the financial services industry with far-reaching technological innovations and its dedication to driving digital transformation in Sri Lanka.

The purpose of the award ceremony was to recognise organisations and visionary leaders for being pioneers in innovation, technology adoption as well as digital transformation, paving the way for the resurgence of the Sri Lankan economy. Prior to securing the award, CDB’s application was assessed by a panel of experts, based on the institution’s overall tech implementations and how the same has been well adopted during the recent challenging period in the country.

CDB Director of Business Operations Dave De Silva said: “We are honoured to be recognised as the Most Innovative Company of the Year at the Dare to Dream Awards 2023 Sri Lanka Edition. This award is a testament to the tireless efforts of our team, who have worked hard to implement innovative technology solutions that have revolutionised the financial services industry in Sri Lanka. Receiving this award motivates us to work even harder to bring innovative solutions to our customers and provide them with the best possible services. We thank our customers for their continued trust in us and our employees for their dedication and hard work.”

CDB is continuously focused on improving and implementing process innovations, which include enhancing the customer onboarding process, making it more simplified and efficient through the Digital form filling, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) based data entry through the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) options.

The complete automation process covers a range of tasks, such as customer onboarding, opening savings accounts, providing debit cards, conducting CRIB report checks via an Application Programming Interface (API), submitting files via Digital form filling, approving credit facilities through an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, automated credit decision for 80% of credit facilities, and delivering digital delivery orders to customers anytime any day of the year bypassing the branch network.