NDB outshines ABF 2021 with seven awards

National Development Bank PLC and its subsidiary company NDB Investment Bank Ltd. together clinched seven impressive awards at the recently-concluded Asian Banking and Finance Awards 2021, organised by the Asian Banking and Finance Magazine of Singapore, a reputed regional publication in the sector. 

The awards program was held under three categories, namely Retail Banking Awards, Wholesale Banking Awards and Corporate and Investment Banking Awards where the NDB Group outshone every other competitor.

Accordingly, NDB Bank won the pinnacle awards under the Retail Banking Category once again, namely Domestic Retail Bank of the Year 2021 for an impressive ninth consecutive year. As NDB is one of the largest players in the SME and Micro Finance segments with dynamic financial and advisory solutions, the bank was also named the Best SME Bank of the Year, for the eighth consecutive year.

NDB Bank also stood out under the second category of Corporate & Investment Banking awards, winning Corporate Client initiative of the Year 2021 – Sri Lanka for the third time together with Infrastructure Finance Deal of the Year 2021 – Sri Lanka.

The bank’s Project Finance was once again awarded the Domestic Project Finance Bank of the Year award for the seventh consecutive year under the Wholesale Banking Awards category in addition to winning Domestic Cash Management Bank of the Year, for the fifth time. NDB Bank’s subsidiary NDBIB also won Corporate & Investment Bank of the Year 2021 – Sri Lanka for the third consecutive year.

Asian Banking and Finance Magazine of Singapore awards program is an independent and recognised awards program, with prior winners featuring banks such as DBS, CITI, HSBC, MayBank, top banks from China, etc. from the region.

The judge board consisted of PwC Asia Pacific Financial Services Leader John Dovaston, Ernst & Young ASEAN Regional Managing Partner Nam Soon Liew, Deloitte Southeast Asia and Singapore Financial Services Industry Leader Kok-Yong Ho, and KPMG International Partner, Head of Financial Services Advisory Global Co-Leader, Fintech Anton Ruddenklau.

NDB operates around the island via 113 branches, with a significant digital footprint and a network of over 150 ATM/CRMs together with Bank2U (Branchless Banking) offerings made available at over 70 branches.

The bank continued its efforts despite challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in empowering its customers through apt customer centric solutions, CSR initiatives including a forestation project, women empowerment projects which featured an island wide awards program dubbed as ‘Vanithabhimana’ which drew over 3,000 applications, digitisation efforts including the launch of a new online banking platform and introducing QR based payments and vKYC to name a few. As such, NDB maintained the equilibrium in its performance, serving all its stakeholders without a compromise. The Bank also introduced ‘NDB Jayagamu Sri Lanka’ for exporters and inventors to encourage and support emerging exporters, prospective entrepreneurs and inventors of Sri Lanka.

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.

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 4th 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.