Reshaping banking for changing times

Friday, 24 October 2014 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Radhi de Silva The Association of Professional Bankers (APB) of Sri Lanka celebrated its 26th anniversary by hosting a convention at

the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The inaugural session was held last week with the Chief Guest being Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and the keynote address was given by the Guest of Honour, Michael J. Zamorski, an advisor for the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre. The technical session forming part of the convention was held the day after with participants from the banking sector. The sessions consisted of presentations and panel discussions covering vast sections that addressed the theme of the convention which was ‘Reshaping Banking for the Changing Times’. An introduction to the technical sessions was provided by Deepal Abeysekera, the Senior Vice President of APB. ICT as an enabler The first presentation was based on ‘ICT as an enabler and for customer retention’ which was presented by Faiq Faiz, the Executive Vice President of Technology Services at Millennium IT and Rajashekera V. Maiya, the Associate Vice President of Principal-Finacle Strategy at Infosys Limited. Faiz was able to share innovative solutions for the banking sector in order succeed in the diverse market segments and Maiya’s specialist knowledge on topics such as core banking, risk management regulations and compliance were discussed amongst the invitees whilst also sharing strategic detail to enable customer retention.

Managing profitability and growth Dr. Ranee Jayamaha, the Chairperson of Hatton National Bank PLC and also an advisor on banking to the President of Sri Lanka, was the presenter of the second presentation titled ‘Managing profitability and growth in an era of increasing compliance and regulated environment’. Dr. Jayamaha was able to discuss the possibility of managing profitability and also the growth within the banking institutions even with the current status in Sri Lanka with regard to compliance and the somewhat stringently regulated environment. Dr. Jayamaha was able to further share with the guests at the convention, her expert knowledge on banking which spans over 40 years. The first panel discussion titled ‘Current information technology and compliance imperatives for banks’, was moderated by Aravinda Perera the immediate Past President of APB and the Managing Director of Sampath Bank PLC. The panellists consisted of Faiq Faaiz, Rajashekera V. Maiya, Dr. Ranee Jayamaha, Jayantha Fernando, the Program Director and Legal Advisor of ICTA and Jonathan Alles, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hatton National Bank PLC. The aforesaid panellists created a forum to discuss the current information technology available and how such should be utilised within the banking sector and further the panel also discussed the imperative compliance standards that every banking institution must adhere to in order to achieve its targets and the importance of complying with same. Human resource, development and talent management A presentation titled ‘Human resource, development and talent management for future banking’ was presented by Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri, the Acting Director and Chairman of the Board of Management of Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayawardanapura, where Dr. Dharmasiri a veteran in the field of human resource in Sri Lanka shared the importance of selecting the talented candidates to ensure the success of the future of the banking sector in Sri Lanka and also the need to develop the skills of such candidates and thereby develop the banking institution itself. Marketing strategies in a digital era and social media The fourth presentation was titled ‘Marketing strategies in a digital era and social media’ which was presented by Siddharth Banerjee, the Country Marketing Director of Unilever Sri Lanka. Banerjee with his expert knowledge in marketing having worked in Unilever for the last 11 plus years he was able to address the attendees regarding the numerous strategies available in the digital era and also in social media to promote the banking institutions and how to take maximum opportunities out of such digital mechanisms in order for the banking institutions to build brands best suited to promote itself within the target market. Human resource and marketing imperatives for banks The second panel discussion was conducted on ‘Human resource and marketing imperatives for banks’, which was moderated by Piyal Hennayake, the President of APB and the panelists consisted of Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri, Siddharth Banerjee, Isuru Tilakawardana the Deputy General Manager of Human Resource Management of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and Varuni Amunugama Fernando, Joint Managing Director of Triad Limited. This second panel discussion focused on the human resource issues faced by most banking institutions in Sri Lanka and the necessity to have a standardised scheme when it comes to recruitments in banks, and also ensure that those who are employed are those who are passionate about banking and to promote this respectable profession, whilst eradicating the notion that has been created especially amongst the youth which is that banking is the profession to resort to due to the of lack of other professional employment opportunities. The moderator Hennayake emphasised on the importance of improving the human resource departments in the banking institutions, whilst encouraging employees of banks to advance their career status by sitting for banking exams since knowing the banking theory is not a waste as it is definitely a value addition. Fernando brought to light the immense work carried out by the bankers and the change it brings to the society by uplifting the lives of the people of our country and therefore to ensure that the professionalism is maintained as the banking sector expands in our country. With the conclusion of the second panel discussion and the convention itself, the vote of thanks was presented by the Assistance Secretary of APB, Aruna Fernando. The compere for the event was Arun Dias Bandaranayake who kept the guests alight throughout the sessions with his witty comments. The Platinum sponsor of the convention was Hatton National Bank PLC, whilst the Gold sponsor was Deutsche Bank. The Silver sponsors of the convention were Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, National Savings Bank, Commercial Bank PLC and Sampath Bank PLC while HSBC, Nations Trust Bank, NDB Bank, DFCC Vardhana Bank, People’s Leasing and Finance PLC and HDFC Bank were the Bronze sponsors. The general sponsors for the event were Pan Asia Bank, Lanka Pay and Seylan Bank. Pix by Upul Abayasekara