Financial Times

NTB expands branch network
By Duruthu Edirimuni
Nation's Trust Bank (NTB) is gradually expanding its reach and have just opened branches in Gampaha and Kiribathgoda, its new Chief Executive Officer, Zulfiqar Zavahir, who took the helm from Moksevi Prelis, told The Sunday Times FT.

NTB now has 23 branches with a staff strength of 440 and hopes to consolidate its presence in Colombo and suburbs before expanding to the northern and the southern parts. Zavahir said that FY 2003 has been beneficial in terms of profits. "We have taken advantage of the interest rates that were going down," he said.

Speaking about the country's economic environment, he said that a certain amount of stability is paramount for an economy to grow and the next year is very crucial for the bank as well as the country at large.

Zavahir said that even with an unstable situation in the country people will have banking requirements. He stressed that the banks have to be aware about risk and plan for contingencies. NTB, since it is a new bank, does not have to carry excess baggage such as non-performing loans (NPLs) like the other players in the market. The bank has used this to its advantage by offering better rates to the customers, as its cost structure has come down.

He agreed that the market is extremely competitive. "In most cases, the customers do not come to us; we have to go to them," he explained. "Unlike some years ago, when the banks thought they were doing favours to customers.

This has changed because of the number of banks in the market and one has to be different from the others to retain the competitive edge," he said. He asserted that a banking product can be copied very easily because it is either a savings or a loan product. NTB is striving to be different by way of customer service. "We have embarked on a huge customer services training exercise for our personnel," he said.

"We have reorganised ourselves in terms of branch exposure and give more weight to sales and services," he said. Asked about the American Express credit cards launched in August last year, he said that it is a prestige brand targeted at middle to upper class markets. He agreed that it is a small market, but within these few months, NTB has secured a considerable market share.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) holds eight percent of NTB and John Keells Holdings (JKH) has 25 percent. Central Finance owns 20 percent of the bank and the rest is publicly owned. He said that the guidelines NTB has to comply with in terms of liquidity, capital adequacy, risk profiling and provisioning are on par with the directives of IFC.

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