HNB wins three awards at LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2019

From left: HNB Senior Manager (IT Systems Security and Compliance) Diva Devasagayam, Senior Manager (Data Centre Operations) Aruna Sumanasinghe, Senior Manager (IT Operations) Subram Parameshwaran, Manager (Digital Banking) Chakshika Amarawardhana, Deputy General Manager (Operations) Asanga Uduwela, Assistant Manager (Operations - Remittances) Nilmini Dharmaratnam, Manager (Digital Engagement Center) Rajan Lazarus, and Senior Manager (Operations) Sujeewa Jayasinghe 

Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, was once again recognised for its customer excellence in the digital sphere when it was presented with three awards at the LankaPay Technnovation 2019 recently for the third consecutive year.

The only annual payment technology innovation award, LankaPay Technnovation recognises banks, financial institutions and FinTech service providers who excel in establishing efficient national payment networks across the country.

HNB was crowned the ‘Best Bank for Seamless back-end Operations’ and received a Silver Award for ‘Best Acquirer of US Dollar Online Payments’ at the gala ceremony held at Shangri La Hotel recently. The Bank also received a Merit Award for ‘Bank of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience (Category B).

“HNB has undergone a remarkable transformation in the digital sphere across the past three years. We invested heavily in digitalisation and automating our critical back-office functions, which we followed with a centralised debt collection and documenting process. With these functions in place, we introduced several innovative digital banking solutions for our customers. We are delighted to say these platforms have experienced significant growth over the past year. HNB has offered customers a convenient, secure and speedy digital banking solutions, which will be enhanced further,” HNB Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking, Sanjay Wijemanne said.

HNB was also the Runner Up as the Best Acquirer for US Dollar Payments in 2018, in addition to being presented Merit Awards for Best Common ATM Acquirer of the Year (Category A) and Best of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience (Category B) the same year.

The bank initially won the Best ATM Network of the Year in 2017. The private sector bank today has an extensive network of 774 HNB Smart Self-Serving Machine (SSM) terminals and 351 cash deposit machines at key locations across the island.

HNB also launched a series of unique digital platforms and technologically-enabled products and services such as HNB SOLO, the Bank’s proprietary mobile wallet, and HNB FIT Savings Account – Asia’s first fitness-linked savings product.

Over the past year, the bank has received continuous praise for its pioneering initiatives across the entire spectrum of its operations. Notably, over the recent past, HNB was also adjudged ‘Best Managed Bank in Sri Lanka’ by the prestigious Asian Banker Magazine while the Bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Jonathan Alles was also conferred with Asian Banker’s ‘CEO Leadership Achievement’ award – both of which are only given out every three years.

Similarly, HNB was also declared ‘Sri Lanka’s Best Bank’ for 2019 by Euromoney Magazine for the third time, in addition to being ranked among the World Top 1000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based, Banker Magazine, further strengthening its status as Sri Lanka’s pre-eminent private sector bank. Recently, HNB was also recognised among the ‘Top 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka’ by the International Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). HNB’s remarkable track record of excellence secured it the first place ranking ahead of all Sri Lankan banks included in the LMD Top 100 Club – a position which was evaluated based on its performance over the past 25 years.