Mirror Business recently met with Sampath Bank PLC Consumer Banking Senior DGM Tharaka Ranwala to get his views on the bank’s and nation’s renowned credit card brand – SampathCards. 
Below are the excerpts.

By Zahara Zuhair
What makes SampathCards special?
Over the years, SampathCards identified that a card, whether debit or credit, is not just a plastic instrument that enables customers to carry out transactions. With the evolving trends and lifestyles, a credit or debit card has now become a vital component of everyone’s lives. With this in mind, the team at SampathCards continues to take the brand to greater heights, thereby creating the necessary bond between a cardholder and their card, whilst giving them the assurance of safety and responsibility, which align with SampathCards’ slogan ‘The Responsible Choice’. 

The main concept driving SampathCards is that we want our cardholders to shop with confidence and responsibility while making full use of the benefits of SampathCards. In this light, with the season amongst us, SampathCards will enable any and every cardholder, despite the varying levels of income, to enjoy the assortment of offers, discounts and extended payment plans that SampathCards offers. SampathCards continues to introduce new concepts and promotions for all cardholders - encouraging individuals to use credit cards as a necessary tool, which is not only a convenient method of making purchases, but also a responsible instrument that facilitates expenditure within one’s limits and capabilities whilst enjoying an abundance of privileges. 

Another feature that adds to the uniqueness of SampathCards is that we are driven to give our cardholders the real value for money, without restrictions and hidden charges. This aspect greatly contributes to the experience of being a Sampath cardholder. 

How successful have SampathCards’ seasonal offers been?
SampathCards’ seasonal offers have been running for five years consecutively. Through this time, we have seen almost all our customers, irrespective of what type of cardholder they are, embrace the wide range of discounts that SampathCards has offered and continues to offer. Therefore, it is a season that they enthusiastically anticipate every year. 

While SampathCards gives cardholders an experience of responsible shopping with great value for money, we are also driven towards giving our cardholders an unmatched experience each time the requirement of using a Sampath Card arises. As such, during the festive seasons in April and December, we ensure to grow and expand our offers in terms of the number of merchants we partner with, the products, services offered and most importantly the range of discounts and alternate payment plans our customers can benefit from. Therefore, this December, SampathCards has introduced ‘Big Celebrations, Bigger Discounts and Biggest Offers’, in order to give Sampath cardholders a joyous season of gifting their family and friends while also gifting themselves.

Meanwhile, Sampath Bank PLC Card Centre Chief Manager Achala Wickremaratne gave a snapshot on the seasonal offers this December. This December our seasonal offers revolve around the theme ‘Big Celebrations, Bigger Discounts and Biggest Offers. With a maximum discount of up to 50 percent, we have over 150 merchants across categories such as retail, fashion, jewellery, supermarkets, electronics, furniture, baby care, fitness, bookshops, duty free, lifestyle, eye care, motor insurance, online shopping, hotel and dining and more renowned brands such as Kelly Felder, Cotton Collection, Emerald, House Of Fashions, Uptown Kandy – Liberty Plaza, Hameedia, CIB Shopping, Beverly Street, Adidas, Dilly & Carlo, Nills, Romafour, Samanmal, Nike, Galleria, Levis, Mango, Dockers, Splash, Mothercare, Giordano, Crocs, Pepe Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, Damro, The House of Gifts, Samudra Book Shop, VijithaYapa Bookshop, Turret, Vison Care, Toyota, World Duty Free and many more.

Furthermore, we are the only bank this season to have all Apple authorised dealers for the recently launched Apple iPhone 7, offering an instalment plan to purchase Apple products. 

What are your thoughts on the future of the credit card industry?
Looking back about six years ago, the world had a credit card crunch and people did not want to use credit cards. During this time, Sampath Bank was growing in leaps and bounds in terms of usage, as well as in the number of cards. This was a result of the realisation that Sampath credit cards gave cardholders great value for money. Therefore, we believe, people are now trying to move out of using currencies and move in to plastics. In time to come, the use of cards will be higher, not just credit cards but debit cards as well – because the convenience, security and responsibility brought about by using cards together with the many privileges and offers cannot be compared to carrying cash.

What are some of the challenges faced? 
I think the biggest challenge we have faced is finding the right kind of mix and the balance in having a technologically driven platform, whereas at a lower cost you can reach a wider audience. By overcoming this challenge, the bank is able to compete within the industry, satisfy the evolving and dynamic needs of customers and also keep our customers constantly informed on the subsequent increase in turnover of potential customers. 

So the challenge is to find that right model where you reach a wider customer base with a wide horizon on delivery and to achieve these objectives, many banks are using technology.

Could you tell us about SampathCards’ recent achievements?
The biggest achievement for SampathCards is that we were the first bank in the country to launch Visa payWave – the near field communication (NFC)-enabled credit and debit cards that facilitate contactless payment when the customers need to make purchases at any merchant outlet with an NFC-enabled machine. 

It’s a very simple concept which gives NFC-enabled cardholders the advantage of simply tapping their card against the payWave reader to pay for their purchases and be on their way. While the limit on the purchase amount differs from country to country, this product gives customers a hassle-free experience that saves time and minimizes the risk of personal and sensitive card details being shared during transactions. 

Sampath Bank recently won two accolades at the Visa India & South Asia Client Forum Awards 2015. One of the accolades was in recognition of Sampath Bank’s achievement for the highest growth in credit card portfolio among the banks in Sri Lanka. The second award was for the bank’s achievement of the highest growth in POS and e-commerce acceptance among Sri Lanka. Together, this achievement positioned Sampath Bank as the only bank among those in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka to receive two main category awards.

What are the other trends you see in terms of technology?
The most recent trend that is surfacing in the financial sector and the banking domain is the incoming technological companies called Fintex. These companies use their technological platforms to look at financing individuals. Therefore, a prominent trend in the future is the growing number of Fintex companies, which banks need to embrace, if not the entire company then even a segment of it, in order to prevent the banking business from being outdated or eliminated.

Another upcoming trend is the entrance of telcos into the financial sector. With an established platform where customers have their voices heard and the innovation of data and mobile platforms that enable transactions, telecommunication businesses are growing to become a vital component of the financial sector. Together, the entrance of Fintex and Telcos into the financial domain will set and provide healthy competition for all banking and financial institutions whilst adding value to total solutions offered to cardholders.

What are some of the new products or services that Sampath customers can look forward to during this season and the upcoming year?
A few services are Credit Card Balance transfers, Extended Settlement Plans and Cash Instalment Plans (CIP), which are novel concepts. The Credit Card Balance Transfer service provides the opportunity to other credit cardholders to transfer their outstanding credit card balances to a Sampath Bank credit card for a low interest rate.

The Extended Settlement Plan service is applicable in instances where merchants either do not have any instalment plans or do not offer instalment plans. In this situation, the payment for purchased products or used services can be paid in instalments up to 36 months. 

Finally, the Cash Instalment Plan (CIP) enables customers with a credit card limit to withdraw the balance of their unused credit as cash from their credit cards and pay in instalments at a minimal fee.
What are some of the unique features offered by SampathCards to their cardholders? 
One of the unique features to highlight is that SampathCards applies only four charges to credit cardholders and this includes an interest charge, a card fee, late payment fee and cash advance fee. 
Additionally, we are one of the few banks who do not charge a late payment from two of our top range cards – Signature and Infinite. Reason being, this particular segment consists of top business people with busy lifestyles that may hinder their track records on payment due dates and so on. As such, to help this segment, the bank offers a complimentary service to this segment whereby Sampath Bank uses mobile technology to send payment reminders to the customers’ personal mobile phones without charging them with a late payment fee.

This is a practice placed at the forefront of all our banking operations, the practice to identify the evolving and dynamic needs and lifestyles of our customer base and accordingly, craft products, services and banking solutions that specifically cater to these aspects. This is yet another unique feature of SampathCards and the bank - we drive ourselves to be the integral force behind our customers at all times, paving paths of convenience, benefits and value additions that will continue to enhance their lifestyles and day-to-day activities.