Pan Asia Bank moves ahead gaining rapid growth

Pan Asia Bank which is known for its range of novel innovative products and services is in the process of introducing new online and mobile banking channels. This initiative was taken in response to the changing customer lifestyles and with a view of adding significant value to customer experience by way of cost saving and improving productivity, a top official of the bank told the Sunday Times. 

Pan Asia Bank Director/CEO Dimantha Seneviratne in an interview with Sunday Times disclosed that the bank is specifically focusing on three areas namely People, Product and Process in order to generate and maintain a superior and robust performance. He further stated that the bank is set to introduce new cutting edge online banking system next month followed by a mobile banking solution soon. 

Seneviratne noted that as a result of this approach the bank has gained a significant growth in its balance sheet as well as profits while reducing operational costs. Elaborating on this he added that the bank’s customer deposit base has been increased up to Rs. 90 billion while its pre-tax profit has increased to Rs. 943 million and post tax profit to Rs. 603 million for the six months ended 30 June from Rs. 456 million and Rs. 349 million respectively during the same period last year. Further, the bank has almost doubled the balance sheet growth to Rs. 121.5 billion up to June this year from Rs. 65 billion in 2014. He attributed this phenomenal growth to the right strategies and efficiency and dedication of the entire staff.

The bank which strongly believes that the best way to sustain this growth is to consistently improve its service quality, has taken several important measures to strengthen that aspect by providing intensive training to all staff members of the bank. In addition, over 160 staff members have been trained to provide ongoing training to fellow staff members with a view to uphold consistent high service standards. This initiative has helped the bank immensely to offer a new level of excellent customer care to customers and support customer retention.

According to Seneviratne another area where the bank focused on was to increase the efficiency with a view to bring down the costs. This strategy has proved to be effective as evident by the improvement in the bank’s cost to income ratio which stood at 55% by 30 June this year. During this time the bank also managed to improve its net non performing loans (NPL) down to 2.7% from 4.39% in 2014. 

These financial results are a strong indication of the bank’s capacity to deliver consistent performance irrespective of the economic turbulences, he pointed out. “We have throughout been proactive in identifying the market developments before competitors which enabled us to make early entry in to certain segments and this has been a major reason for our successful performance.” 

Referring to the bank’s enviable product portfolio, Seneviratne noted that the bank has been well positioned in introducing innovative and novel products based on Blue Ocean Strategy to cater to customer needs.

Elaborating on an example on the bank’s product development strategy, he stated that in an era where retirees were largely being neglected by the society and overlooked by the financial sector, Pan Asia Bank stepped in to offer Sammana loan scheme as an innovative financial product for government pensioners with the aim of contributing positively towards the country’s economic development. This loan scheme offers loan facilities up to Rs. 1.5 million with repayment periods of up to seven years for government pensioners as well as for retired Central Bank employees without any collateral. Customers who obtain this loan will also get a special life insurance policy.

“This insurance policy ensures that in an event of a customer’s untimely demise before the loan is paid off, his/her family is not burdened with the liability of the remainder of the loan,” he revealed.

Another special loan scheme, ‘Ranaviru Harasara’ is now being implemented for the benefit of the members of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air Force, including disables soldiers, those who are serving and the family members of those who were killed in action. Originally launched as a deposit scheme it has now been extended as a loan scheme to enable the members to utilise the funds for a range of purposes including self employment, purchasing land or vehicles, building houses, wedding expenses, higher education, children’s education etc. Another example of the bank’s innovative product range is its ‘Daskam’ Children’s Savings Account. Not limiting itself to the standard practice of offering gifts for children’s saving deposits, the bank offers ’Daskam’ Children’s Savings accounts which offers an additional 10% deposit by the bank for each and every customer deposit made to the account till the account holder completes 12 years of age. This particular product was specifically designed to ensure that there is a way to build a sizable saving for children especially for their higher education purposes when they turn 18. 

In recognition of its superior overall performance, Pan Asia Bank has received the award for Fastest Growing Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka from the London based Global Banking and Finance Review in three consecutive years since 2014, he revealed. Global Banking and Finance Review annually recognises outstanding achievements in the financial services industry and in its review and selection process, it considers factors such as the institution’s strategic focus, achievements and progressive and inspirational changes taken place within the company, he disclosed. 

Commenting on the bank’s future plans he stated that Pan Asia Bank expects to take banking into rural areas introducing mobile banking and micro financing in a big way. He further added that they will continue to remain futuristic and make forward looking decisions to capitalise on new opportunities.