Sampath Bank PLC is a licensed commercial bank incorporated in Sri Lanka in 1987 with 229 branches and 373 ATMs island-wide. It has won the "Bank of the Year" award by The Banker of Financial Times Limited – London, for two consecutive years, and the "National Business Excellence Awards 2010". It has become the third largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka with Rs. 453 billion in deposits as of 30 June 2016.[3]
History
The bank was originally incorporated as the Investment and Credit Bank Limited in 1988. The bank became popularly known as Sampath. In 1988, Sampath Bank started to operate a multi-point network of automated teller machines (ATMs) for the first time in the country, as "Sampath Electronic Teller" or "SET". Then, as the popularity of ATM banking increased it introduced MasterCard (in 1989), PBU (Personal Banking Unit) and Uni-Banking System. The bank was the first to introduce debit cards in South Asia in 1997. Since 2009, the bank is the third-largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka in terms of total assets.
Growth
The inaugural office of Sampath Bank was situated at Wijewardhana Mawatha in Colombo 10. In 1998, the bank relocated its headquarters to Sir James Peiris Mawatha in Colombo 02, Sri Lanka.