Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank focuses on digital technology targeting young workforce and millennials
The Cargills Bank of Sri Lanka, owned by the Cargills Group, has reportedly said its focus on digital technology like mobile apps and a relatively young workforce will help it better target millennials as customers.
“The bank’s technology focus and enhancing convenience through its extensive (Cargills Food City) network is a key strategy which is proving successful in attracting millennials, for whom speed and convenience are key value drivers,” Managing Director Rajendra Theagarajah has been quoted as saying in a local media report.
The Bank’s Chairman, Louis Page has said a key competitive advantage of Cargills Bank centred on its retail network of over 350 Cargills Food City outlets across the country, all of which now have regulatory approval to do banking, the report states.
Theagarajah has reportedly told shareholders in the Bank’s annual report for 2017 that the year under review saw the pioneering of several initiatives towards luring millennials with product offerings aimed at this segment of customers.
“We launched Social banking where banking transactions can be carried out by connecting Facebook to the Mobile Banking App,” Theagarajah has said.
According to the media report, the Bank considers its Mobile Banking App as one of its unique selling points which enables customers to make utility bill payments, transfer money and open accounts and fixed deposits on smart phones.
Cargills Bank has stated that in 2017 it started ‘Social Media Banking’ with its “Pay a Friend via Facebook” campaign. This has “proven to be particularly popular amongst millennials who can now pay a friend instantly across the restaurant table if they have not taken cash to a dinner or lunch meeting.”
The bank’s new ‘Lifestyle Banking’ website was selected among the top 20 Visually Stunning Website Designs among Banks and Credit Unions by The Financial Brand, a digital publication covering the way financial institutions build their brands, the media report has further noted.
Theagarajah has said that as much as 90% of the four-year-old bank’s team of 451 employees is below the age of 40 years.
This, he has said, reflects “a younger workforce with high energy and the ability to understand and cater to facets unique to millennials, helping the bank become a champion of digital disruption in the retail banking space.”
Cargills Bank follows a “lean model, with a higher number of sales staff vis a vis back office staff – a model founded on state of the art technology,” the annual report has stated.
OSL take:
The move by Cargills Bank to venture into digital technology with the aim of targeting the market of millennials in the country is an innovative move to be undertaken by a Sri Lankan bank. Other banks could look at the marketing strategy undertaken by the Cargills Bank and venture into similar strategies with target markets.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/26042018/Z_12 |