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| Sunday, 1 February 2004 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Innovative plans by Seylan Bank
Dr. Nihal Ramanayake outlined the Seylan Bank's innovative plans for the future, the infrastructure supporting electronic payments and the relevant legal system. "We use Information Technology to do things differently to better serve the customer. The basic strategy is to offer convenience to customers by providing 'anytime, anywhere, anyway banking'. We use electronic payment methods to achieve this". So said Deputy General Manager, IT, Seylan Bank, Dr. D. N. D. Ramanayake. Seylan's IT infrastructure can be adopted to meet changing requirements of the future. Dr. Ramanayake explained that all the electronic delivery products/services are 'built' on a standard platform ensuring the protection of the initial investment. This systems architecture enables them to respond to the market demands for electronic services very rapidly and at marginal cost. It is in this environment that Seylan Bank could provide many electronic delivery channels such as SMS Banking, Telebanking, Internet Banking, Virtual Wallet, Payment Gateway, Visa Credit & Electron Debit cards, POS transactions etc. He said these are a multitude of channels for banking transactions - not only at anytime but also from anywhere in Sri Lanka and from around the world as well. He noted that these electronic delivery channels supplement the 110 banking centres throughout the country, all connected to an efficient on-line real-time banking network. The branch network is also supplemented with over 70 ATMs operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Dr. Ramanayake said customers can settle their utility bills and insurance premia through ATM, Internet Banking & the bank's branches. At present, customers settle cellular phone bills and Seylan Visa Credit Card payments using these channels. In February this year, Seylan plans to re-launch SMS services using GSM mobile technology. They were the first to introduce SMS banking to Sri Lanka a few years ago. The bank now has developed a generic product which could be used in collaboration with any GSM mobile service provider to offer the proposed service. Dr. Ramanayake said, "We are re-launching with both 'push and pull' technologies. This includes credit and debit alerts on the mobile phone. Also changes to the bank balance arising from credit card payments may also be notified if the client so requires. Your mobile phone will ring and alert the credit payment amount and date". Dr. Ramanayake emphasized that it enables the customer to access a variety of information, ranging from foreign exchange rates to online real-time account details at his/her convenience. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
