NDB felicitated at International Finance Awards 2021: Only Sri Lankan bank to win 2 awards

National Development Bank PLC was awarded Best Islamic Finance Bank – Sri Lanka 2021 and the Best Project and Infrastructure Finance Bank – Sri Lanka 2021 at the International Finance Awards 2021.

Launched in 2014 as the Islamic window of Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank, NDB Shareek has grown to be one of the country’s largest Islamic banking platforms.

NDB’s Shareek Islamic Banking caters to an array of diverse customers across industries and value chains. Its products are tailor-made to fulfil the requirements of individuals, SMEs as well as corporates for the purposes of housing, project financing for hydro power generation, poultry, solar and manufacturing.

All facilities that are offered to customers are carefully evaluated to ensure the end use of funds is according to the Sharia principles.

The Mudharabah deposits offer attractive returns from small to high net worth individuals. In line with the Bank’s strategic thrust towards empowering women, NDB has hitherto tapped an unbanked segment in Islamic Finance through mobilising deposits from women through the Araliaya proposition. These accounts offer bundled facilities including insurance services, cards and a range of other benefits. It is currently the only Islamic Banking product in the Sri Lankan market designed exclusively for women. 

The Bank has also expanded its Privilege Banking proposition to its Islamic Finance customers, through NDB Shareek – a holistic proposition targeted at fulfilling both the investment and funding requirements of high-net-worth individuals. Shareek offers tailor-made solutions combined with excellent customer service and a network of island-wide customer contact points. NDB Shareek Islamic Banking services are available through all business centres of NDB bank, ranging from corporate banking, project financing, business banking, privilege banking for high-net-worth customers and retail banking.

In the Year 2020 NDB Shareek, Islamic Banking Unit of NDB was awarded the prestigious ‘Islamic Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka 2020’ by the globally renowned Financial Times’ publication, ‘The Banker’ amid strong competition from domestic as well as regional and global competitors. 

NDB as an organisation with its roots in development banking, together with its deep industry insights, expertise and long-standing customer relationships has been able to build a strong reputation and excellence in project and infrastructure financing. The understanding of the workings of different industries and overseas markets as well as a holistic value proposition, which includes the provision of advisory services, has made NDB’s Project Finance (PF) Unit, a preferred financial partner for companies seeking long-term financing both locally and overseas. 

The PF Unit of NDB possesses the competence to assist its corporate clients in complex transactions and propel them towards the next phase of development in their businesses. With over four decades of project financing experience and in-house engineering and legal expertise, NDB not only plays a role of financial partner in these projects, but acts as a project partner where advice on project management and legal aspects are also made available to the promoters. The package of services offered by NDB not only ensures the successful implementation of the project but also ascertains satisfactory returns to both the promoters as well as the Bank thus creating a win-win solution for both parties.

The Bank has been doing project financing since 2015 under Islamic Banking – NDB Shareek. Accordingly, the Bank has granted facilities close to Rs. 3 billion under Islamic Banking for the energy sector both locally and overseas. Meanwhile, the Bank is also actively pursuing opportunities to finance projects under Shariah compliant products and is currently working with project promoters to materialise few projects both in the country and overseas. The project portfolio of NDB’s PF Unit consists of projects in the sectors such as power and energy, mixed development, financial services, construction, food and beverages, government infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, etc. 

NDB Bank which was crowned as ‘Sri Lanka’s Best Bank 2021’ by the prestigious Global Finance Magazine of USA, and recognised as ‘The Bank of the Year Sri Lanka’, by The Banker Magazine UK, is the fourth largest listed bank in Sri Lanka and the parent company of the NDB Group. The only financial services conglomerate in Sri Lanka, NDB Group is uniquely positioned towards assisting the growth and development of the Sri Lankan capital market to provide its customers seamless access to the product and service offerings of all its group companies.