NDB’s Indrajith wins Asian Banker Achievement Award

Indrajit Wickramasinghe Vice President, Head Retail Banking and Marketing of NDB Bank was the sole recipient of the Promising Young Banker Award for 2007 from Sri Lanka.

The award was presented to him by Sir George Mathewson, Chairman of Tosca Fund Holdings and former Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The award has been made in recognition of Wickremasinghe’s professional efforts in building NDB Bank’s retail banking products and services in Sri Lanka including the leadership given in working with leading mobile phone operator Dialog Telekom in launching a mobile phone-based payment and cash remittance product, which is the first commercially launched product of this nature in South Asia.

NDB Bank is one of the fastest growing commercial banks in Sri Lanka, successfully transforming itself from a leading project lending bank to a universal bank within a short space of time. Innovation and technology have been the hallmarks of NDB Bank and the rapid expansion of the branch network has helped the customers in enjoying a superlative service from its highly customer oriented staff. In addition to the wide array of products, NDB Bank introduced an innovative product - ‘eZ Pay’, South Asia’s first mCommerce (Mobile Commerce) initiative which is a revolutionary service that allows consumers to purchase goods, pay bills, transfer money and perform banking transactions via their mobile phones. The Bank has also launched a special savings account - ‘Vishmitha’ - offering zero-percent interest loans for the first time in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Wickramasinghe has extensive management experience in both the FMCG and financial services sectors. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and holds a MBA from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.

The winners of the Asian Banker Achievement Awards 2008 were announced at a sparkling ceremony at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam on the 16th of March 2008.

An exclusive audience of top industry leaders from around the world witnessed the award ceremony for 37 of the top professionals in the banking industry in the Asia Pacific region. Among the honoured guests were Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Ms Kannikar Chalitaporn, President, Siam Commercial Bank, Mr David Eldon, Chairman, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority and former Chairman, HSBC Asia, Sir George Mathewson, Chairman Tosca Fund Holdings and former Chairman, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Mr Paul Sarbanes, former Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Mr Kaspar Villiger, board member, Swiss Re and former President and Finance Minister, Switzerland.

The award ceremony was held in conjunction with The Asian Banker Summit, undisputedly the largest gathering of financial services industry professionals in the Asia Pacific region. The Summit is held annually in different Asian cities, and this year’s was held in Hanoi with the full support of the Vietnam Banks Association and the State Bank of Vietnam.

A rigorous selection process was chaired by Mr David Eldon, Chairman, Board of Directors, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority and former Chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific. The independent panel of judges comprises five notable international personalities. Chairman of the panel was Mr David Eldon, Chairman, Board of Directors, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority and former Chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific. Mr. Eldon built the HSBC brand in Asia for over nearly 40 years during which the bank made several key acquisitions around the world. Other members of the panel were Sir George Mathewson, Chairman Tosca Fund Holdings and former Chairman and CEO, Royal Bank of Scotland, Mr Cesar Virata, Corporate Vice-Chairman, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and former Prime Minister of the Philippines, Mr Byung Chul Yoon, Chairman, Financial Planning Standards Board Korea and former Chairman of Woori Financial Group and Dr. Ishrat Husain, Chairman, National Commission for Government Reforms, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Pakistan and former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan

The Asian Banker is the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community. The Singapore-based company has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Beijing and Shanghai as well as representatives in London, New York and San Francisco. It has a business model that revolves around three core business lines: publications, research services and forums.