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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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NSB launches Rs. 2 billion IT plan The National Savings Bank (NSB), the premier savings bank in the country has launched an ambitious IT plan investing Rs. 2 billion. The ambitious program has been divided into five components which includes portfolio management system, installing a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network(WAN) to connect the branches, Install ATMs and a core banking solution, said General Manager /CEO NSB Eastman Narangoda. He said that installing the core banking solution will be completed by the end of 2006 while the other components of the program will be completed before March 2006. This will help us to be on par with all other banks on the IT front. Therefore, the bank's priority at present is on this project. The bank has the public ownership and confidence of customers and once the IT is in place we would be in a better position to compete with other banks. He said that the bank has initiated action to amend the NSB Act so that the bank can move into other areas of activities such as investment. In the event the bank gets permission to amend the Act the sky is the limit Narangoda said. The bank is also planning an incentive scheme for postal employees to mobilise more savings. At present the postal network contributes 7% of the savings while the branches attract 93% of the savings. Therefore we are planning a rewards scheme for postal employees and customers as well while plans are under way to introduce new products through post offices. Narangoda said that the bank recorded the highest profits in 2003 and 2004 and even the private sector could not match us. He said the reasons for this achievement were good governance,commitment and integrity. At present the savings growth is static in the country as our population is leaning towards consumerism while competition is also very high. The bank is also intensifying the training given to its staff to provide a better service to customers. At present we are also planning a rewards scheme for the branch staff. At present the NSB does not have any specific products for the rural sector and we are planning to launch some innovative products in the near future. The bank was awarded the Triple A rating for three consecutive years by Fitch Rating. We are the only Sri Lankan organisation to be awarded the Triple A rating which shows that our credit quality is high, he said. (SG) |
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