Sampath Bank recognised with top honours for innovative IT solutions

BCS Sri Lanka Section Executive Committee Immediate Past Chairman K.V. Kuganathan with Digital Technology and Entrepreneur Development State Minister Namal Rajapaksa hands over award for Touchless Withdrawal – Gold award – research and development category, which also won Gold award at APICTA Awards, to Sampath Bank PLC Group Chief Information Officer Ajith Salgado in the presence of (from left) National Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management State Ministry Additional Secretary Regional Administration Reforms Waruna Sri Dhanapala, ICTA Chairman Oshada Senanayake, BCS Sri Lanka Section Executive Committee Member and FITIS Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Sampath Bank PLC AGM IT Pasan Manukith, Sampath Bank PLC AGM IT EDP Thushara Jayathunga, BCS Sri Lanka Section Executive Committee Chairman Vajeendra S. Kandegamage, Sampath Bank PLC AGM IT Systems Dushyantha Dassanayake, FITIS President Software Fairooz Habeeb and Sampath Bank PLC AGM Card Centre Darshin Pathinayake

Prime Minister’s Office Additional Secretary Chandana Rodrigo hands over award for Blockchain Technology-based Shared KYC Platform – Merit award – research and development category, to Sampath Bank PLC Chief Manager Digital Banking Nuwan Wickramanayake in the presence of (from left) BCS Sri Lanka Section Executive Committee Member Mihiri Dissanayake, ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis, BCS Sri Lanka Regional Office Manager Deepashika Gunasekera, Arimac Lanka Chief Projects and Delivery Officer Rukshani Aponsu, Sampath Bank PLC Manager IT Systems Development Manula Nanayakkara, Sampath Bank PLC Manager IT Systems Development Menake Fernando, Sampath Bank PLC Senior Lead Network Engineer Binal Chathuranga and Sampath Bank PLC Manager Network Security Aruna Krishantha

Sampath Bank was proud to be recognised at the NBQSA for the ninth consecutive year with several top honours for its innovative IT Solutions at the National Best Quality ICT Awards 2021 (NBQSA), which was held recently at the Sirimavo Bandaranayake Memorial Exhibition Centre, proving the bank is the pioneer in introducing state-of-art IT solutions to the banking and finance industry in Sri Lanka.

NBQSA is a national level ICT competition organised by the Sri Lankan section of the British Computer Society (BCSSL), a leading professional society in the field of computers and information systems. Sampath Bank won the Gold award for Touchless Withdrawal, the latest trend introduced by the bank as an innovative and preventive measure for the spread of COVID-19, under the Research and Development project category. The Touchless Withdrawal solution was launched in August 2021 for the first time in Sri Lanka and possibly in the Asia Pacific region.

For this groundbreaking, innovative feature of Touchless Withdrawal, Sampath Bank PLC emerged as the winner, out of 17 countries at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, hosted in Malaysia recently and currently stands as Sri Lanka’s only bank to have ever won an APICTA award. At the NBQSA 2021 ceremony, a special recognition was awarded for this victory in the presence of Minister 
Namal Rajapaksha.

Touchless Cash Withdrawal is a revolutionary digital solution to the Sri Lankan market. With this initiative, customers and customers of all other banks in the country are now able to withdraw funds in their accounts and cards without even having to physically touch the machine, by visiting any of Sampath’s 450 ATMs located around the island. All they have to do is scan the QR code displayed on the ATM screen with the help of the Sampath 
WePay app. 

Moreover, Sampath Bank was able to achieve the Merit award for the ‘Blockchain Technology-based Shared KYC Platform’ under the research and development project category and another Merit award for the Sampath Document Approval System under the in-house category.

Commenting on the bank’s achievements, Sampath Bank PLC Group Chief Information Officer Ajith Salgado said, “As a banking and finance entity operating in these modern times, we, at Sampath Bank, always strive to stay ahead of IT and enhance the digital experience of our customers. That is why we’ve consciously dedicated our time and efforts to making steady progress in banking with technology. The recognition we’ve received is a testimony to that dedication and enthusiasm.”