National Development Bank is now nearing completion of the Bank’s new strategic plan, devised by brainstorming inputs from all the divisions of the Bank and its group companies.
“We are excited about the future that lies ahead where we are determined to strive and reach our full potential. In reaching these goals, raising additional capital to meet the Basel III requirements and to support the growing franchise would be a key strategic priority,” National Development
Bank Chief Executive Officer Dimantha Seneviratne told shareholders in bank’s annual report 2016.
“Given the backdrop of rising interest rates and uncertainties in the leasing industry, retail banking witnessed a subdued portfolio growth the year under review. On the other hand, mortgage backed housing loans were boosted by a growth in real estate development, an area focused on actively. A creative niche has been the tri-partite arrangements, where project financing for upper middle class real estate projects are coupled with loans to buyers of apartments.”
Though credit cards saw a less than expected growth, the bank is fully aware of the importance of a strong credit card offering in the retail banking space, and the bank has been constantly improving its presence in this sector.
“This will be one of our focal points in the coming year.Despite the challenging environment, we continued to maintain a healthy asset book and a strong credit quality. Our credit underwriting standards remained robust as reflected by our non performing loan ratio which continued to be below the industry average, he said adding that the bank believes that there is tremendous entrepreneurial potential at the provincial and grass root levels.”
Through the Bank’s SME and micro-finance programmes, it continues to leverage this potential and offer our competencies in order to empower the small scale entrepreneurs.
“We believe that technological advancement in our offerings is a mandatory constituent for our future success. Moving in to digital channels will gain priority in our new strategy that is being drafted.
Considering our existing balance between fund and fee based income, we have some distance to go. Our future focus will be on products and services which give more value to the customer and where we can enhance our revenues by way of fee income.”
He further added that the bank’s ratio of deposits in current and savings accounts (CASA deposits) to total deposits, which is an indicator of the cost of funds, is relatively lower compared to the industry average. (IH)
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