Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB) was once again recognized as ‘The Best Retail Bank’, in Sri Lanka at the ‘Asian Banker’ International Excellence in Retail Financial Services 2016 Awards ceremony held in Hong Kong recently.

This is the 8th time that HNB has been bestowed with the ‘Best Retail Bank Award’ by the ‘Asian Banker’. The Asian Banker is one of the most respected organizations in the worldwide financial community.

The award for the Best Retail Bank was contested by more than 250 banks from 42 countries and is one of the most exclusive and sought after awards for any top ranking bank to win as it recognizes outstanding institutions in retail banking for their strong vision, profitable performance and market leading propositions. Asian Banker in a press release cited the following as the key factors which enabled HNB to secure its position.

They were: Significant corporate strategies and initiatives to provide unparalleled customer service, substantial investments in information technology to advance its retail services and outstanding growth in its retail business through its vigorous sales efforts and refined approach to sales DGM - SME & Retail Banking, Thimal Perera who accepted the award on behalf of HNB said, “Our financial performance despite the challenging macro economic environment within which we operate, our customer centric approach in everything we do, our accessibility through our very strong brick and mortar footprint and our concurrent leadership in state of the art digital channels and provision of banking solutions to varied socio economic segments have all been factors in our victory”. He further added that the

“Asian Banker goes through one of the most rigorous processes in their evaluation and selection of winners, hence the receiving of this award is an independent validation of our strategies and initiatives while allowing us to be benchmarked against financial institutions not just in Sri Lanka but the biggest and the best across Asia pacific and the Middle East”. MD/CEO of HNB Jonathan Alles stated that

“recognizing HNB as ‘The Best Retail Bank’ by the prestigious ‘Asian Banker’ magazine is ample testimony to the immense capability and dedication of the HATNA family to deliver unparalleled customer service and experience while constantly pushing the bar of innovation.” He added that “Winning the award for the 8th time is a validation of HNB’s ability to transcend simple transactional banking into developing richer and deeper bonds with customers, thereby enabling the Bank to influence the economic and social progress of each and every Sri Lankan while being a partner in the development and progress of the nation”.