Customer-centricity is the core concept on which the Bank carries out its business. With its local heritage well augmented by many international alliances and partnerships, having an overarching customer-centric focus is pivotal to the Bank’s strategic vision and long-term objectives.
Product Portfolio
Savings Accounts
DFCC Winner – Among the best interest rates for accounts with a minimum balance of LKR 2,500/-. This account is also for businesses and for individuals who are over the age of 18 years.
DFCC Mega Bonus – Interest rates on offer increases along with account balance on savings deposits, for businesses and individuals aged 18 years and above.
DFCC Xtreme Money Market Account – Offers one of the highest interest rates for Rupee and Dollar denominated savings, based on the account balance for businesses and individuals aged 18 years and above.
DFCC Garusaru – Offers attractive interest rates, reward schemes and a range of other benefits for senior citizens who are above 60 years of age.
DFCC Junior – Children’s savings account which offers an exciting range of gifts and preferential interest rate for children below 18 years of age.
DFCC Junior Plus – Children’s savings account with a higher interest rate for children below 18 years of age.
DFCC Teen – Savings account with exclusive offers, benefits and higher interest rate for teenagers who are between 13 and 18 years of age.
DFCC Aloka Women’s Product – DFCC Aloka is a financial solution designed to empower women across Sri Lanka to achieve their career goals, business ambitions and personal dreams. Aloka is a high interest tiered savings account which can be opened by any female above the age of 18 years.
Special Deposit Account
Offers highly attractive returns for funds received from abroad via inward remittances. Fixed deposits can be placed under this account in any designated foreign currencies or Sri Lankan Rupees. This is an ideal account for Sri Lankans who are employed overseas.
Product Propositions
These have been separated into varying categories, catering to different segments, distinct needs, wants, aspirations and lifestyle to offer the most suitable financial solutions. These include savings accounts, current accounts, debit and credit cards, as well as personal loans.
- DFCC Salary Plus
- DFCC Salary Partner
- DFCC Prestige
- DFCC Pinnacle
Housing Loans
Flexible and convenient housing loans at competitive interest rates for self-employed individuals, professionals, and salaried individuals. These loans can be used for purchasing or constructing a house, purchasing an apartment, as well purchasing a plot of land, renovating a house, etc.
Personal Loans
A wide range of personal loans catering to the varying needs of different categories of salaried employees and professionals in the private and Government sectors.
DFCC Education Loans are flexible and convenient loan facilities to fund the higher education of individuals pursuing higher studies in Sri Lanka or overseas.
DFCC Garusaru Personal Loans are special personal loan scheme for Government pensioners.
Leasing Facilities
DFCC Leasing for brand new and unregistered/registered vehicles, machinery, plant and equipment for corporates, SMEs, entrepreneurs, professionals and individuals.
DFCC Credit Cards
The only Credit Card that offers 1% cashback on every personal card transaction, 365 days of the year.
Bancassurance
Insurance and assurance solutions for corporates, SMEs, entrepreneurs, professionals, and individuals.
Pawning Services
Financing immediate cash requirements of individuals.
Digital Products and Services
- DFCC Virtual Wallet (hybrid mobile banking app)
- DFCC iConnect
- DFCC Chatz/DFCC Video Chatz
- MTeller
- eStatements
- DFCC Alerts (SMS)
- DFCC Online Banking
- DFCC MySpace (digital channels – ATMs, CRMs, CHDMS, Pay&Go Machines)
Lines of Credit from the Refinance Unit
- “Saubhagya” (Prosperity) Loan Scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
- Small and Micro Industries Leader and Entrepreneur Promotion Project III Revolving Fund (“SMILE III RF”) to support the manufacturing industries and industry related service sectors of SMEs.
- Environmentally Friendly Solutions Fund II – Revolving Fund (“E-friends II RF”) to assist industrial enterprises in finding solutions to the environmental problems, such as industrial pollution caused by their manufacturing and energy consumption, and their environmental improvement initiatives such as waste minimisation, resource recovery and savings, and pollution control and abatement.
- Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Line of Credit – (“SMELoC”) SME Component with the Women Entrepreneur Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Grant including SMEs that are led by women, are first-time borrowers, do not have sufficient collateral and are located outside of Colombo for Long-term Investment Loans, Non-collateralised Working Capital Loans.
- Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Line of Credit – (“SMELoC”) Emergency Response Component – for re-energising the COVID-19 affected SMEs by providing short-term working capital in the productive sectors including, manufacturing, agriculture and agro processing, fisheries, tourism, export oriented businesses etc.
- Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Line of Credit – (“SMELoC”) Tea Smallholder Pilot Component with the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) Grant for supporting capital investments by tea smallholders.
- Smallholder Agribusiness Partnership Programme (“SAPP”) for out-grower farmers and youth entrepreneurs connected to the agriculture value chain.
- New Comprehensive Rural Credit Scheme (NCRCS) for uplifting the socio-economic conditions of micro and small scale farmers who engage in cultivation.
Retail Loans
An in-depth study of the customer landscape has enabled DFCC Bank to identify current, latent, and emerging needs of a broad array of customer segments. This has resulted in a range of retail financial propositions and services that is broad enough to accommodate a cross-section of society, with a high level of specificity in meeting their individual needs.
DFCC Educational Loans
Given the nation’s need for highly educated, qualified professionals, and the limited capacity of our university education system, DFCC Education Loans are intended to cater to those pursuing higher education in Sri Lanka as well as overseas.
SLASSCOM Partnership
The Bank’s partnership with SLASSCOM came at a time when there was an urgent need for continuous work arrangements of employees in the ICT sector during power cuts. In response, special Green Loan product was introduced to SLASSCOM member companies and their employees. They were provided the opportunity to purchase off-grid and on-grid power generation equipment through the special loan scheme at an attractive interest rate.
Leasing
While restrictions on the import of vehicles proved to be a considerable setback to the leasing industry, the Bank continued with its Leasing Product for brand new, registered or unregistered vehicles, machinery, plant and equipment for corporates, SMEs, entrepreneurs, professionals, and individuals in various other categories. Leasing guidelines were revisited and streamlined to ensure propositions that were mutually beneficial to the Bank as well as the customer.
Gold Pledged Lending
The prevailing adverse economic conditions resulted in the widespread adoption of pawning gold jewellery to meet urgent financial needs. In order to upgrade the services offered to the Gold-Pledged Lending customer portfolio, a comprehensive training programme was carried out, providing hands-on experience on gold assaying techniques, including acid tests. These initiatives helped the Bank enhance the competency levels of Pawning Officers, and thereby provide a better service to the customer. Attractive advances at competitive rates were offered, and the Gold Pledged Lending portfolio of the Bank registered significant growth during the year.
System Upgrades
Mortgage Loan Workflow System was introduced to provide a speedy loan approval process for Housing Loans while amendments were made to the PFS Loan system to improve the efficiency of Personal Loan disbursements.
In addition to the concessions proposed by the CBSL, the Bank offered a range of concessions such as temporary interest rate reductions, capital grace periods, and loan tenure extensions to retail borrowers who were affected by the depressed economy and high level of inflation.
Due to the unfavourable economic conditions and increased interest rates prevailing in the market, the demand for Retail Loans declined, leading to a decrease in the Retail Asset portfolios during the year. In view of reduced disposable income of individuals, lending to fixed income earners was considered on a selective basis.
Customer-Centricity
The Bank ensures that the principle of Customer Centricity is deeply entrenched in all its customer interactions and support functions.
Investing in Alternate Channels is an area that receives continuing emphasis at DFCC, and is an important aspect of customer-centricity within and outside the organisation. This also provides customers with broader and easier access to their accounts, and the ability to carry out a range of transactions through multiple channels. Our Digital channels, Call Centre, Hybrid Branches and Digital marketing constitute the major Alternate Channel platforms. Customers are diligently sought and served with the intention of providing a service that is speedy, convenient and relevant. The launch of the new state-of-the-art core banking solution is a defining technology enabler which will provide DFCC with a competitive edge for years to come.
Apart from reaching out to the Retail Segment, DFCC’s flagship electronic banking platform iConnect has been successfully used to serve the Payments and Cash Management requirements of a range of corporates and institutions. The iConnect electronic banking platform which delivers cutting edge Cash Management solutions is a state-of-the-art Liquidity, Payments and Cash Management system that enables customers to perform their daily transactional banking needs with a click of a button. This innovative solution gives the clients’ Finance and Treasury units the opportunity to access the companies accounts maintained with DFCC Bank PLC, both locally and globally. It also offers enhanced security features that enable real-time viewing of account balances, making local and cross-border payments and collection solutions at the click of a button 24/7, 365 days of the year possible.
DFCC’s efforts in payments and cash management were recognised by Euromoney for the second year in succession in 2022 when it was awarded “Market Leader” and “Best Service” in the domestic cash management segment. Implementation of the concept of customer-centricity is further strengthened at DFCC through continuous improvements in banking products, processes, in addition to pursuing innovation and value-addition on all possible fronts.
DFCC has intensified its focus on reaching out to important socio-economic segments, which could form the basis of strategic segmentation, and possible specialised focus in the future. The exclusive women’s centric product “Aloka” was launched at the end of 2021, followed by a focused multi-channel marketing campaign to build awareness. Aloka was showcased as the Platinum sponsor at the WCIC Women Entrepreneur Awards 2022.
The IT industry is another important segment due to its spearheading role across a multitude of industries, as well as reinforcing DFCC’s identity as a Bank with a strong focus on technology. Further solidifying our efforts in reaching out to, and consciously marketing our services to the IT sector, the SLASSCOM package was launched in 2021. It is a tailored solution comprising proposition features and card benefits. DFCC and SLASSCOM signed an MOU recently to provide a special “Green Loan” scheme exclusive for member companies and their employees to purchase solar energy systems to facilitate work from home arrangements for SLASSCOM members. This was intended to mitigate the impact of work disruptions caused by power disruptions.
Branch Network
Contact Centre
The Contact Centre has been evolving with the times, adding new services and capabilities, improving processes, training and upskilling personnel, in addition to upgrading the technology. The Centre offers its services on a tri-lingual basis, enhancing the Bank’s commitment to inclusivity, and reaching out to a broader customer base.
To meet the needs of our rapidly growing roster of high net-worth customer base, a round-the-clock service was provided by dedicated Customer Agents. In addition, another team of Agents was available 24x7 on “Live” chat to handle the banking needs of the other customer segments. Multiple training sessions were carried out for the Agents, based on feedback obtained from quality checks. They were also given training related to guideline changes, process changes, new promotions, etc. An improved Non face-to-face Digital Onboarding feature was enabled via the Contact Centre during the year, adding considerable ease to the customer on-boarding process, which would have not been possible, given the travel restrictions prevailing during the pandemic.
Going beyond their traditional customer service-related functions, Agents at the Call Centre have been engaged in cross-selling and activations, which helped in achieving of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), despite a challenging environment.
During the pandemic and lockdowns, Agents from distant locations were allowed to operate from the DFCC branch closest to where they lived. After the lockdowns were lifted, they reported back to the Contact Centre premises.
Customer Experience
The Customer Experience Unit continued to add value to the customer-base by accepting, escalating, and resolving customer complaints and inquiries within the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
SLA monitoring was commenced across multiple fronts, in addition to identifying the root causes for recurring complaints, for which corrective actions were implemented. Further, (NES) and (NPS) scoring for the Credit Cards business, as well as NPS scoring for the Pinnacle proposition were conducted.
In addition, refresher training was provided for the branches, where service gaps were identified whilst conducting the staff orientation training. In line with the International Customer Service Week, the Customer Experience Unit organised a Customer Service Forum where industry specialists shared their experiences to an audience of Customer Service Ambassadors and the rest of the staff to inculcate the importance of service.
Multichannel Customer Touchpoints
Customer journeys differ from individual to individual, across a wide range of channels and touchpoints. This makes it harder to reach out to diverse segments which comprise the target audience of DFCC Bank. Utilising an extensive network of touchpoints, ranging from conventional branch network to Internet and mobile-enabled digital platforms such as DFCC MySpace, DFCC Virtual Wallet, DFCC Retail Online Banking and DFCC iConnect, the Bank has been able to reach out to customers with greater effectiveness.
The Bank understands the varying needs of different customers, which has resulted in the provision of banking services through multiple channels and avenues, ranging from conventional island-wide branches, to various digital channels. The digital footprint and transactions of the Bank were considerably increased during the year with DFCC MySpace, which includes ATMs, CRMs, cheque deposit kiosks and Pay&Go machines. Large corporations and SMEs were assisted through the DFCC iConnect payments and cash management solution.
Product Responsibility
DFCC Bank approaches product design from the viewpoint of the customer, incorporating many features that correspond with customer utility, accessibility, responsibility and convenience, in addition to the ability to confer a competitive advantage. The Bank emphasises ethical product design, adhering to the necessary statutory and compliance requirements before introducing a new product to the market.
While customers in the modern era are concerned with quality and service, they also show a marked inclination towards knowing all the relevant facts before making a purchase decision, or initiating a business relationship with an institution. This fact is rigorously adhered to by DFCC Bank, which emphasises the provision of transparent and relevant information to customers. Product and service-related information is available in all three languages, which is backed by employees who have been trained to provide more information where necessary. The Bank also conducts regular events through its branch network to educate current and potential customers about the features of its products and services.
Marketing Communications
The communications strategy adopted for DFCC Bank “the Bank for Everyone”, was based on broadening the reach through the use of traditional media as well as digital marketing due to the exponential increase in social media consumption in Sri Lanka. The trilingual approach in communication has facilitated reaching out to all segments across the country, creating the much-needed awareness that DFCC Bank offers a range of product propositions and services in the financial industry. Governed by the Bank’s Communication and Social Media Policies, communication with all stakeholders is carried out in line with the regulatory requirements at all times.
During the year under review, the Bank carried out a series of brand-building initiatives and product-specific campaigns with a key focus on digital. Due to the ongoing pandemic, even though fewer physical events were conducted, online marketing activities such as webinars, forums, customer engagement initiatives etc., were carried out.