Expats in the forefront using DFCC’s non-face-to-face account opening platform
Mr. Aasiri Iddamalgoda - Senior Vice President
Sri Lankan expatriates are in the forefront using DFCC Banks’ online account opening platform, following guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, DFCC was the first bank to introduce the non-face-to-face online account opening platform in Sri Lanka, DFCC, Senior Vice President Aasiri Iddamalgoda said in an interview with the Business Times.
Mr. Iddamalgoda said, “The Central Bank issued guidelines on how a bank could ‘know your customer’ (KYC) by obtaining the customers’ NIC and cross checking with the Department of Registration of Persons and verifying the information. Through the DFCC website customers can open new accounts by following a 6-step process which takes about five minutes answering a few questions.”
Once the customer fills the online application, one of the call centre representatives will call the customer and do the KYC after which the new account will be opened and the customer will be informed of the account number to deposit the relevant minimum balance. Google Meet platform is used for non-face-to-face KYC and the calls are recorded and stored in the cloud. A picture of the NIC is also stored in the system. At the moment only savings accounts can be opened following which current accounts and other types of accounts will be introduced shortly, he added.
Mr. Iddamalgoda noted that the platform was active for the last three months and is mostly visited by Sri Lankan expatriates. “More than 1000 accounts have been opened so far using the DFCC website and most of the customers are Sri Lankans living overseas. After the government introduced the special foreign currency deposit with a higher savings interest rate, a lot of Sri Lankans living overseas opened savings accounts through this platform.”
He also mentioned that DFCC has been in retail banking for the last seven years and the bank has been striving to improve its customer base. “When it comes to digital you need customers who are comfortable with the digital platforms. In Sri Lanka lots of people are averse to digital banking, but the pandemic made them forcefully move into the digital platforms. It’s the mindset change of the people to move into digital from the traditional ways of visiting the bank for every transaction. It will take some time but this is where all banks are heading,” he noted.
“DFCC wants to be very customer centric and we want to be the leading bank when it comes to digital. We have invested a lot in the new digital systems for the ease of customers which have already rolled out. Customers can experience a virtual bank branch where all facilities will be available,” stated Mr. Iddamalgoda.
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