People's Bank is embarking on an ambitious business transformation strategy aimed at achieving aggressive growth and rapid differentiation leveraging technology. Driving this transformation initiative the bank announced the roll out of its Core Banking Solution powering its core banking and Trade Services across its vast branch network. The new centralized core banking system replacing the 5 archaic IT systems of the bank, will enable the delivery of “Anytime anywhere banking” through a robust, cost effective, integrated banking solution which is being initiated and implemented by Silverlake systems, a leading solutions provider in the Asia Pacific Region. 

The pilot phase of the core banking project has been successfully implemented at the People's Bank Head Office, Corporate Banking Division, Foreign Currency Banking Unit and Overseas Customer Services Unit with 60 branches going online by December 2005. Fast tracking the process, People's Bank is also planning to link 100 of its core branches to the centralized system by the 1st quarter of 2006. By end 2006 a total of 200 branches will be automated on the centralized core banking system. The hardware used is an IBM iSeries machine.

According to Mr. P. Amarasinghe – Chairman, People's Bank “This is a very strategic project for the bank and is core to our technology led transformation initiative. We are confident that this core banking system will provide our bank tremendous business agility and time-to-market advantage. We have implemented a robust standard banking package used by top banks in Asia and worldwide together with local customization. This solution will provide discipline to reorganize operations and processes and adopt best practices.  This new core banking solution will put People's Bank in the forefront of the competitive race in value creation, business performance, customer service and productivity”.

"The centralized core banking system will result in very efficient and personalized customer service, 24 x 7 banking through multiple delivery channels and superior relationship management at the bank. It has geared the bank to meet the dynamically changing environment" says Mr. Asoka de Silva, CEO/General Manager of People's Bank. "Customer service is our prime focus and this technology solution from Silverlake will go a long way in enhancing delivery of superior products and services to our customers. This coupled with our other business initiatives will definitely create a new People's Bank" Mr. de Silva further added.

The People's Bank IT vision evolves from the bank's strategic plan which was initiated in the year 2001. Following a strict selection procedure the bank chose Silverlake Systems as the solution provider, based on its expertise in developing and implementing IT solutions for the financial sector. With the signing of the agreement in the year 2003, the People's Bank IT vision was initiated. The pilot phase of the core banking project commenced on schedule in 2004. The Inter Branch Transaction System can presently be used within a network of 180 core and non core branches. This is the largest network available for inter branch transactions within Sri Lanka. This net work would be expanded up to 225 branches at the end of 2005 and up to 324 branches by the end of 2006. The SWIFT system was also upgraded to SwiftNet in keeping with SWIFT guidelines and developments.

This Core Banking Solution roll out will improve the functionality and services available to Customers and Management, establishing effective and efficient controls together with strategic policies and disciplines. This will enable the enhancement of profit productivity per employee, a performance related knowledge based work culture aimed at improving business performance and customer value. The new Core Banking System will also enhance the value of the Bank by helping to deliver a high incremental return on investment

"Working within our IT vision where technology has to conform and fuse the nuances of different cultures, traditions and backgrounds that formulate our diverse customer and stakeholder bases, we now have a clear focus of the role that IT plays and will continue to play within the Strategic Plan that is being implemented, mapping out the future path of the bank" says Mr. Chanaka Goonewardene, Head of IT.

The Silverlake designed Core Banking Software Solution will be rolled out to the entire People's Bank Corporate and Commercial Branch Network. This next generation solution will help People's Bank to become highly competitive over the next decade.

About Silverlake

Established in 1989, Silverlake is a global software organization with expertise in the implementation of state of the art Core Banking Solutions for Banking & Financial Institutions across the world. Silverlake has successfully implemented over 60 Integrated Banking Systems in some of the largest banks in the region, including UOB and OCBC in Singapore and Bank Mandiri & BRI in Indonesia. Silverlake has also initiated and successfully completed several core banking projects in China, Vietnam, Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Catering to the Core Banking platform of the future, Silverlake is equipped with a complete and integrated suite of banking products including Retail Banking, Islamic Banking, Treasury, Trade Finance Remittance, ATM, Electronic Banking and Credit Card Systems.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology provider, with over 80 years of leadership in the arena of IT. IBM offers a comprehensive range of services, solutions and technology that support organizations to gain maximum leverage of the new era of e-business.

About Blue Chip

Blue Chip Customer Engineering Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, is a total solution provider with expertise in the development of comprehensive and integrated nationwide service with a special focus on the mid range information technology industry. Established in 1987, Blue Chip Engineering are specialists in the supply, maintenance and support systems, peripherals and related professional services specifically targeting the IBM mid range.