Sampath Bank recognised with top honours for innovative IT solutions

Minister Namal Rajapaksa and Immediate BCS Sri Lanka Section Past Chairman K.V. Kuganathan hands over the award for Touchless Withdrawal – Gold award – Research and Development Category, which also won the Gold award at APICTA Awards to Sampath Bank Group Chief Information Officer Ajith Salgado. Others (from left): State Ministry of National Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management Additional Secretary (Regional Administration Reforms) Waruna Sri Dhanapala, ICTA Chairman Oshada Senanayake, BCS Sri Lanka Executive Committee Member and FITIS Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Sampath Bank AGM – IT Pasan Manukith, AGM – IT EDP Thushara Jayathunga, BCS Sri Lanka Executive Committee Chairman Vajeendra S. Kandegamage, Sampath Bank AGM – IT Systems Dushyantha Dassanayake, FITIS President Software Fairooz Habeeb and Sampath Bank AGM – Card Centre Darshin Pathinayake 

• Continues to pioneer IT solutions in the Sri Lankan banking and finance industry

Sampath Bank was recognised at the NBQSA for the ninth consecutive year with several top honours for its innovative IT solutions at the National Best Quality ICT Awards 2021 (NBQSA), which was held recently at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Centre, proving the bank is the pioneer in introducing state-of-art IT solutions to the banking and finance industry in Sri Lanka.

NBQSA is a national level ICT competition organised by the Sri Lankan section of the British Computer Society (BCSSL), a leading professional society in the field of computers and information systems. Sampath Bank won the Gold Award for ‘Touchless Withdrawal’, the latest trend introduced by the bank as an innovative and preventive measure for the spread of COVID-19, under the Research and Development project category. The ‘Touchless Withdrawal’ solution was launched in August 2021 for the first time in Sri Lanka and possibly in the Asia Pacific region.

For this groundbreaking, innovative feature of ‘Touchless Withdrawal’, Sampath Bank PLC emerged ‘Winner’ out of 17 countries at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, hosted in Malaysia recently and currently stands as Sri Lanka’s only bank to have ever won an APICTA award. At the NBQSA 2021 ceremony, a special recognition was awarded for this victory in the presence of Minister Namal Rajapaksa.

Touchless Cash Withdrawal is a revolutionary digital solution to the Sri Lankan market. With this initiative, customers, and customers of all other banks in the country are now able to withdraw funds in their accounts and cards without even having to physically touch the machine, by visiting any of Sampath’s 450 ATMs located around the island. All they have to do is scan the QR code displayed on the ATM screen with the help of the Sampath WePay app. 

Moreover, Sampath Bank was able to achieve the Merit Award for the ‘Blockchain Technology based Shared KYC Platform’ under the Research and Development project category and another Merit Award for the ‘Sampath Document Approval System’ under the In-house category.

Group Chief Information Officer Ajith Salgado said: “As a banking and finance entity operating in these modern times, we at Sampath Bank always strive to stay ahead of IT and enhance the digital experience of our customers. That is why we’ve consciously dedicated our time and efforts to making steady progress in banking with technology. The recognition we’ve received is a testimony to that dedication and enthusiasm.” 

Prime Minister’s Office Additional Secretary Chandana Rodrigo hands over the award for Blockchain Technology base Shared KYC Platform – Merit Award Research and Development category to Sampath Bank Chief Manager – Digital Banking Nuwan Wickramanayake. Others (from left): BCS Sri Lanka Executive Committee Member Mihiri Dissanayake, ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis, BCS Sri Lanka Manager Deepashika Gunasekera, Arimac Lanka Chief Projects and Delivery Officer Rukshani Aponsu, Sampath Bank Manager – IT Systems Development Manula Nanayakkara, Manager – IT Systems Development Menake Fernando, Senior Lead Network Engineer Binal Chathuranga and Manager – Network Security Aruna Krishantha