MBSL gears for growth with new blue ocean strategy

The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) & Finance PLC has kicked off 2017 with new 3-year strategic plan, after the most complex but successful consolidation in Sri Lanka’s financial sector history, MBSL is now poised to enter a new era of growth and progress by leveraging the synergies of a highly skilled workforce backed by the latest specialized financial sector technology.   
In 2016, guided by the collective expertise of its board of directors, MBSL focused on developing a new strategic growth plan to enhance competitiveness of the company.  Having extensively analyzed internal environment and external market trends the MBSL team, under the aegis of the board of directors, has now embarked on a new and radically different growth path. 
At the session of strategic plan of MBSL, the keynote speaker, MBSL Chairman Sujeewa Lokuhewa addressing the gathering said, “It gives me immense pleasure to see the strategic plan 2017-2019 of MBSL framed for the next three years coming out as an embodiment of the aspirations of entire workforce of MBSL. The development of this plan has taken a lot of effort and time, and I am confident that the final output will be a good roadmap for our company for the next three years. 
“Today we celebrate the results of the fruitful teamwork and more importantly, a roadmap that will guide our operations in the next three years.The plan acknowledges the changing environment and the need to convert from a red ocean player into a blue ocean player in the financial industry. This informed our new strategic direction which is to: “Making the competition irrelevant and creating new market space”.”
The Chief Executive Officer of MBSL, Thilak Mutugala presented the overall strategic plan 2017-2019 to the audience which was comprised of board of directors, corporate management, regional managers and branch managers. Under its unique, customer centric, blue ocean growth platform MBSL will provide a range of new and exciting opportunities for both existing and potential customers in the form of enhanced customer touch points, new products, better and more customized services and greater market penetration with a focus on the corporate and rural segments. MBSL has also been cognisant of the importance of ensuring operational stability and has renewed a 3-year collective agreement with its employees’ union on January 16, 2017, laying the groundwork for smooth rollout of its three-year growth strategy. A key component of the company’s strategic blue print for future growth will be a modern core banking system, which will provide a significant technology boost for all operational aspects. Currently in the implementation stage, the technology overhaul within the company will see all internal processes becoming automated, contributing significant cost savings, together with speed, efficiency and productivity gains for the company and its customers. The new IT system will come into full operation towards mid-2017 further enhancing customer value.
Having concluded a highly successful 2016, recording consistent financial growth coupled with operational improvements, Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC is confident of sustained robust growth in the 2017 financial year under its new strategic plan.