NDB Bank launches custody and trustee services

National Development Bank PLC (NDB) recently announced the launch of its custody and trustee service offering.
NDB has developed into one of the largest and most prestigious commercial banks in Sri Lanka, offering curated customer solutions seamlessly through its group of companies, covering the entire spectrum of financial services by employing innovative digital technology. It has been recognised as the best bank in Sri Lanka by three independent awarders in the past couple of years.

In line with its medium-term strategy to be the banking group of choice, the custody and trustee services were the missing links, which complete the financial services spectrum, which currently covers commercial banking, wealth management and securities trading in addition to the investment banking services.

The team will be managed by Senior Vice President Personal Banking and Customer Experience Sanjaya Perera, with expertise of over 28 years in the field of banking, who has lead the introduction of many novel retail banking products introduced to the bank and Manager Custody and Trustee Services Naveen Lekamge, who has been actively engaged in the provision of custody and trustee services in both domestic and international markets, with an accumulated expertise of seven plus years in the field, under the guidance of the bank’s CEO Dimantha Seneviratne, who was formally with the global giant HSBC Group for 17+ years.

Seneviratne speaking on the launch of the custody and trustee business said that NDB intends to grow the custody services to international standards, catering not only to financial assets but also non-financial assets to culminate in a family office concept. 

“This brings together other strategic initiatives such as family banking under its V25 medium-term strategy. Further, under the one NDB concept, this completes the one-stop shop concept for wealth management and investments,” he said.

Perera adding to the sentiments of the CEO stated, “We noticed that there was a need in the market for an additional player offering these services and we had several requests from our customers to offer these services, especially for trustee services. It should be noted that most transactions requiring trustee services, in Sri Lanka, originate from within the NDB group through its investment banking, project financing and wealth management arms. So, its natural extension of services was to improve transactional efficiency for the customer.”
Lekamge commenting on the introduction of the custody and trustee service business indicated that it enables NDB to offer easy access to the capital markets, specially in terms of dealing with the stock market, government securities, corporate actions, etc. for its vast clientele.

“While currently, use of custody services by retail customer is not so prevalent in Sri Lanka, unlike in countries such as India, we intend to extend the convenience of this offering to retail customers, who can then have a unified view of their entire portfolio on their palm and have the freedom to deal through any broker of their choice with ease.” 

NDB recognises that the safekeeping of financial assets is an important concern for today’s investors and also the new generation investor seeks convenience of hassle-free investing. Therefore, by commencing custody and trustee services, NDB seeks to provide a one-stop shop for all its customers to enjoy the services of conventional banking facilities along with the simplicity of access to the capital markets and ancillary services such as margin trading and fund accounting.