How do you envision technology’s impact on the banking industry and the potential transformations it will bring?

As we envision the future of banking, we anticipate significant transformative changes. Foremost among these is the expected decrease in reliance on physical branches. Many individuals currently rely on branch visits for various banking tasks, such as accessing facilities or applying for loans, often coupled with time-consuming paperwork. Nevertheless, with the emergence of mobile banking, internet banking, and dedicated apps, a substantial transformation is on the horizon. Greater segments of clients will progressively favour these digital platforms over traditional branch visits.

Further, the speed of banking processes is set to experience a noteworthy enhancement. At present, some transactions or responses from banks may take a day or longer. This scenario is poised to change dramatically, with turnaround times shrinking to mere minutes in the future. Such increased efficiency will revolutionize the banking experience, enabling customers to execute tasks promptly and conveniently.

Moreover, technology will be the driving force behind a more individualized approach to banking. Services will be customized to align with each client’s preferences, needs, and behaviours. Whether for an individual or an organization, banking solutions will be meticulously crafted to meet their unique requirements, promising a seamless and satisfying banking experience.

Behind the scenes, banks grapple with numerous challenges like liquidity management, credit quality, and regulatory compliance. Although these tasks currently involve a blend of human effort and technology, we predict a significant shift towards greater reliance on technology, particularly automation and workflow, which are already quite extensively used in the bank. AI and Machine Learning will power this transformation, streamlining processes related to liquidity management, credit quality, regulatory navigation, customer-specific offerings and other operational aspects, thus reducing human intervention.

However, the human touch will remain indispensable in areas requiring personalized attention, communication, collaborative problem-solving, and customer financial guidance. Customer relations will continue to necessitate the human element, engaging with clients to comprehend their unique needs and provide bespoke advice. Despite this, most other tasks will transition to automated processes, leveraging technological capabilities.

At Seylan Bank, our ethos is centred on stability, customer focus and security. We are committed to providing thoroughly tested, reliable solutions, prioritizing quality over being the first to adopt new technologies. This commitment ensures that our customers can place unwavering trust in our products and services. Be it the introduction of new technology or the enhancement of existing functionality, customers can rest assured of our offerings’ reliability and dependability.

Unlike many of our competitors with multiple applications, we champion a streamlined approach. Our customers appreciate this clarity, knowing exactly which app to use for each purpose, leading to a seamless user experience.

In the foreseeable future, we envisage an era where branch visits become increasingly redundant for our customers. Our dedicated apps aim to provide a wide range of services, empowering customers to perform nearly all banking tasks without having to set foot in a branch. This transformation will bestow our customers with unprecedented convenience and accessibility in their banking journey.

With your experience both overseas at Lockheed Martin (NASA), JP Morgan Chase and Virtusa and in Sri Lanka, what unique insights and expertise do you bring to the banking industry as a whole and Seylan Bank?

Reflecting on the contribution I made to the overall banking industry in Sri Lanka, my role as Project Director and Deputy General Manager (DGM) – IT and Operations at LankaPay (formerly LankaClear), the national payment network, could be considered to be pivotal. I was presented with the opportunity in 2008, to lead and innovate digital and real-time payment systems in Sri Lanka. I was responsible for leading the designing, implementing and driving the participation of all commercial banks towards real-time payment systems, digital signing (PKI based), 100% paperless payments systems, common ATM network, digital payments, etc. This enabled Sri Lanka to have one of the world’s first 24x7x365 truly real-time payment systems. These systems adopted global best practices and were on par technologically with global payment networks. These payment networks provided critical functionalities that banks utilized for digital banking in Sri Lanka.

In 2016-17, Seylan Bank embarked on a transformational journey, strategically targeting diverse segments within our corporate and retail customer base, and leveraging digitalization to drive exponential growth. A forward-thinking strategy was conceived during this period to propel the bank towards this ambitious vision.

Within this context, my journey with Seylan Bank began in 2017 and I had the privilege of significantly contributing to this strategic vision by designing a comprehensive blueprint for the required IT infrastructure, a system that spanned various layers from the very top and linking seamlessly to the bottom. This comprehensive blueprint encompassed a layered architecture of the IT Technology Stack, where each layer focused on delivering a specific functionality or service. This was coupled with cross-cutting systems to provide vertical and horizontal services. Guided by the ethos of using the latest and most suitable technology, speed and ambition, by 2020, we had achieved remarkable progress in implementing our IT strategy.

The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a swift transition to remote work arrangements. Seylan Bank was well-positioned to make this adjustment. In response to the Board’s query about our readiness for this shift, I confidently affirmed that we were fully prepared in terms of security, infrastructure, and digital capabilities.

Our proactive preparations equipped Seylan Bank with a formidable security posture, robust infrastructure, a comprehensive data warehouse, fully API-ready software assets and an extensive digital presence. This enabled our employees to transition to remote work smoothly. Consequently, our executives could engage with customers or operate remotely while ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of banking services.

In summary, the strategic IT vision and state-of-the-art infrastructure implemented at Seylan Bank empowered us to respond promptly to the challenges posed by the pandemic. This ensured operational continuity and the effective servicing of our customers, even within a remote work environment.

As technology can undoubtedly enhance the reach of retail customers, it poses a different challenge when it comes to corporate customers and those utilizing ERP systems. How do you ensure that technology remains meaningful and valuable to each of these diverse customer segments?

The needs and requirements of retail customers differ significantly from those of corporate customers. Retail customers typically seek convenience in their day-to-day transactions and managing personal finances. On the other hand, corporate clients have distinct needs such as cash management, cash flow prediction, facilitating imports and exports, good governance/checks and balances when doing financial transactions, etc.

When designing applications for corporate clients, the mindset and approach must be different, taking into account their specific requirements, convenience, security and the multiple layers of approval often involved in corporate transactions. In contrast, for retail customers, the focus lies on providing a user-friendly interface that enables faster, more efficient, and secure transactions.

Considering the SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) segment, which plays a crucial role in the country’s economy, cost-effective solutions become vital. We prioritize providing open banking APIs, and collaborating with SMEs to brainstorm and recommend suitable solutions that enable seamless banking and business operations. In some cases, we may even recommend IT solutions for banking needs so that SMEs can focus on their core business activities.

It is noteworthy that Seylan’s extensive catalogue of banking APIs has greatly facilitated corporate and SMEs to significantly improve their payment and banking operations with speed, reliability and security. Overall, our approach to technology design takes into account the distinct needs of retail customers, corporate clients, and SMEs, tailoring solutions that address their specific requirements while providing security, convenience, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

While innovation is paramount, security, compliance and stability are also essential aspects of modern banking. How do you balance the need for systems security and compliance with the need for innovation and agility?

A key aspect that I have found essential in leading the digitalization process is effective stakeholder management. Bankers are typically cautious about change due to the stringent procedures and rules that must be adhered to, as trust is crucial for a bank’s credibility. The need for financial prudence and consistency in daily operations reinforces the resistance to change. The focus is on maintaining compliance, security, auditability, and stability by preserving established practices.

However, when introducing new technology and automation, it becomes vital to evaluate whether a process adds value or is non-value-creating. This necessitates engaging in dialogue with other stakeholders, identifying and eliminating redundant or non-value-adding processes, and optimizing operations within the regulated framework to meet requirements.

This particular challenge required diligent attention to detail and compliance, and we made reasonable progress in navigating it, bringing us to where we stand today. Cultivating a culture of innovation is also a significant factor in this journey.

Indeed, fostering an environment that encourages and embraces innovation is critical to successfully integrating technology advancements and driving digital transformation in the banking industry. By balancing the need for stability, compliance and trust with a culture that promotes and rewards innovative thinking, banks can evolve and stay competitive in an ever-changing technology landscape.

During the journey of transforming Seylan Bank to be digitally prepared from 2017 until now, how did you successfully navigate and lead any required cultural changes within the organization?

In my experience, having a background in Strategic HR from Fortune 500 companies in the USA where I worked previously, I recognized the significance of Strategic HR and cultivating a strong team culture. When I joined Seylan Bank, one of my initial priorities was to initiate a cultural shift within my team, while introducing key strategic HR initiatives, stretching the prevailing HR practice of the organization.

To foster a more dynamic and engaged team, I made subtle, but key adjustments that pushed the boundaries within the limits of the bank’s culture. I aimed to create a flatter hierarchy, encouraging greater dynamism, and collaboration within the team and creating a learning culture. While there are constraints in a banking environment, I consistently worked towards expanding and stretching the cultural norms because, in the technology realm, innovation, collaboration, free-thinking, and value creation are paramount for future success.

By instilling this mindset and creating a sense of camaraderie within the team, team members became more engaged. I fostered a lighthearted and familial atmosphere, emphasizing teamwork, accountability, new technology adoption and innovative thinking. This shift in culture had an immediate impact, leading to enhanced productivity and a surge in innovation within the team. These positive changes have been evident in Seylan Bank’s IT operations.

The team members embraced the new culture and contributed towards the growth in productivity and adoption of innovation, whilst propelling the bank towards its goals.

When evaluating your current infrastructure, how does Seylan Bank differentiate itself in terms of technology? 

When assessing and implementing IT infrastructure for financial services, the focus primarily revolves around servers, security, middleware, core applications, digital solutions, efficient IT operations, etc. Stability, security, speed of deployment and cost efficiency become crucial aspects for any financial institution, whilst ensuring the absolute security of data. In our journey, one of the initial priorities was to implement proven cutting-edge technology to support these focus areas.

Significant technology advancements were made that enabled Seylan Bank to be the first in Sri Lanka in many hi-tech implementations. A few examples are the implementation of hyper-converged infrastructure for servers (vSAN), Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN), for security Virtual Patching and Advanced Threat Prevention (Deep Security) and many more. Also, we were one of the first banks to implement a comprehensive data warehouse, with all services exposed via APIs, Robotic Process Automation, etc. Essentially, the list of firsts at Seylan Bank is quite innumerous!

Further, our core systems for banking, payments and treasury management are among the most stable and secure in the industry globally. In spite of all these advancements, we work diligently to keep up with the ever-changing technology and ever-expanding threat landscape, as no institution can be complacent.

All of the above is done, as an institution driven entirely by trust, security, safeguarding confidentiality and protecting customer interests and creating convenience for our customers which are our top priorities.