David Pieris invests Rs. 100 m in digital solution joint venture

David Pieris Group of Companies Group Chairman and Managing Director Rohana Dissanayake exchanges the agreement with Avonet Technologies Director/COO Thilina Kumarapathirana. David Pieris Motor Company Director Dhanika de Silva, David Pieris Holdings Chief Officer – Digital Business Initiatives Niroshan Serasinghe, D P Infotech Executive Director Jayaraj Sayanthan, Assetline Corporate Services Director Mavali Weerasinghe, JV Company Independent Director Nominee Anurudda Kariyawasam, Director/CTO Sachith Fernandopulle, and Avonet Technologies Chief Commercial Officer Shanta Rajapaksha Yapa were present at the occasion

David Pieris Holdings and Avonet Technologies have announced the launch of a new joint venture which will power Affiniti FinTech Solutions and accelerate its global expansion. 

Affiniti is a suite of fintech solutions that digitally transforms end-to-end Delinquency Management and Customer Relationship Management processes. Currently, Affiniti enables automation of collection and recoveries of BFSI, Telco, Utility and Public Sector institutions, minimising the manual intervention by operational staff, while maximising the efficiency of delinquency management.

Unique offerings of Affiniti are Early Warning Signals triggered Customer Hardship Management for customers with financial vulnerabilities, automated slippage detection and recovery action triggering with collection optimisation, machine learning empowered predictions, and cognitive conversational bot interactions with delinquent clients to track promises and recovery payment plans. 

Affiniti is currently being used by many leading banks, non-bank financial institutions and telco establishments. Among them are Sampath Bank PLC, PABC Bank, HNB Finance PLC, HDFC Bank, CDB, LB Finance, Vallibel Finance and Dialog Axiata.

The David Pieris Group, one of the largest diversified conglomerates in Sri Lanka, is best known for its roots as the largest automotive company in the country. Over the past 25 years’, the Group has diversified into financial services with the largest specialised leasing company, third largest insurance broker as well as logistics, racing and leisure and the agri sector.

“With this JV our intention is to make Affiniti the World’s Number One Digital Recovery Platform by 2030, initially focusing on South Asia, and then taking on Asia Pac, Middle East and the African regions,” explained David Pieris Group Chairman and Managing Director Rohana Dissanayake. 

The partnership has a meticulously planned product and technology roadmap to meet this audacious goal which includes: using artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) to increase predictive capabilities, extensive use of robotic process automation (RPA), chat bots for increased, efficient and effective customer engagement and branded matrices for informed decision making.

Avonet Technologies Director/CEO Thilina Kumarapathirana said, “This collaboration is a significant achievement in our quest to make Affiniti a sought-after brand name for innovative software solutions internationally. The strengths of David Peiris Holdings will certainly enable us to concentrate on further improving our solutions and adding even more value to our clients.” 

Dissanayake went on to explain that this was the first JV under the Group’s DigiVentures Program which identifies potential digital start-ups and partner them to grow and meet their full potential. During the first round of this initiative over 60 companies were evaluated, eight shortlisted with Avonet Technologies being selected for the first partnership. He added, “Round two has commenced and we invite start-ups to send their pitch decks and look forward to more successful partnership such as this.”