HNB launches Stay Safe COVID Tracer QR codes across all branches

• Facilitates QR reading using SOLO app

Sri Lanka’s largest retail bank, HNB PLC, successfully launched the Stay Safe COVID Tracer solution across its entire branch network and the SOLO app. The solution has been introduced by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka to help contain the spread of COVID-19.    

As a result, employees and visitors to HNB’s Head Office and entire island-wide branch network will now be able to check-in and check-out by simply scanning a QR code placed prominently at each entrance. This contactless solution will be a convenient alternative to the requirement of writing visitor details in a physical log book.   

Providing added convenience to HNB SOLO users, the bank has also enabled the reading of Stay Safe COVID QR codes using the HNB SOLO mobile app, meaning that the SOLO app can also double as a tool for anyone to download and use as a trusted scanner for Stay Safe QR Codes at any location. Thereafter, when visiting any HNB branch, or any other public location that displays the Stay Safe COVID Tracer QR code, visitors can simply scan the QR code when entering and exiting the premises.  

“HNB is proud to support the vital efforts of the Government in using technology to improve the speed and effectiveness of contact tracing at a national scale. This is an initiative which will be essential in breaking chains of transmission. As a bank with one of the largest retail footprints in the country, we are doing our utmost to help our customers and employees stay safe during the COVID pandemic. This includes rapidly expanding access to digitised services, and taking all possible precautions including stringent social distancing measures. We urge all citizens to also extend their fullest cooperation in this effort, so that together we can defeat this pandemic,” HNB Deputy General Manager Retail and SME Banking Sanjay Wijemanne said.    

“We are grateful to HNB for its quick response in launching the Stay Safe initiative at their entire branch network. Contact Tracing is one of the most essential tools we have at our disposal in bringing the transmission of COVID-19 under control, and so we urge all Sri Lankans, and all organisations that have a high level of public interactions to sign up with Stay Safe, and help us prevent the spread of the virus,” ICTA Chairman Jayantha De Silva stated.

Check-In and Check-Out times will be compared with the times of others who visited the same location. If a person who tested positive for the virus was at the same location at the same given time, institution owners and visitors will be notified by health authorities. Once notified, each individual must then take necessary preventative measures including self-quarantine to avoid the spread of the virus. 

With 252 customer centres across the country, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative banks having won local and global recognition for its efforts to drive forward a new paradigm in digital banking. The bank has continuously won prestigious accolades including being declared Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka for 2020 by the Asian Banker Magazine for the eleventh occasion in addition to being highest ranked privately owned commercial bank in Sri Lanka by the prestigious Banker Magazine Top 1000 global rankings 2020.

Locally, HNB leads the Business Today Top 10 rankings and also claimed seven awards at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2019. The first Sri Lankan bank to obtain an international credit rating, HNB is rated on par with the sovereign by Moody’s Investors Service, and the national long term rating of HNB revised upward by two notches to AA+ (lka) recently by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd.