Seylan ‘Home Loan’ re-launched with enhanced advisory service
Marking three decades of service led banking excellence, Seylan Bank has strengthened its retail banking propositions.
As a part of this initiative the bank has re-introduced its Home Loan Facility with special advisory services and a multitude of benefits to offer Sri Lankan home buyers a hassle free and faster option of owning their own house, apartment, or land.
Seylan Bank’s Deputy General Manager Retail Banking Tilan Wijeyesekera and Chief Manager Personal Banking Eugene Seneviratne elaborate on the customer-centric approach the bank adopted to remodel its Home Loan facilities.
“Today, we see public infrastructure, transportation and facilities improving in most urban areas in the country,” Deputy General Manager Retail Banking Tilan Wijeyesekera noted.
“With this urbanization, more Sri Lankans are moving to these areas and we see a growing demand for affordable housing solutions. Meanwhile, a rising urban wealthy segment with multifaceted ambitions want to invest in luxury homes and apartments. Owning a home is one of the most important aspirations of any person’s life. We want this process to be easy, fast and affordable, as people need realistic advice and a fast service when investing in a property of their own.the improved home loan advisory service at most of theseylan Bank branches across the island, is a key upgrade to our home loan facility which will allow us to understand and assist customers who aspireto own a house of their own. Our goal is for any customer from any part of the country, to have access to a specialised home loan advisor and to have all the facts available when making this important decision in their lives,” Wijeyesekera stated.
Wijeyesekera revealed that a number of initiatives ranging from technological upgrades to front-end and back-end system enhancements, enhanced credit processing and approval processes with greater centralisation to reduce turnaround timeswill expedite theapplication process. Along with these, productinnovations and new digital offerings will improvethe overall banking experience for the customer.
Explaining Seylan’s focus on customer needs, Wijeyesekera explained that the ‘Seylan Home Loan Open Day’, is another important initiative launched under the bank’s revamped Home Loan Service. “It is an islandwide initiativewe launched recently, to understand the pain points of Sri Lankans when aspiring to own a home.
The first Open Day was held at Battaramulla branchand was received very well by customers. Here, we have a specially trained team of Home Loan advisors including our credit processing and approval team to help customers understand the best approach when investing in home, explore the ideal and most economic payment plan and answer any questions relating to the process.the advisors will further assist customers in obtaining necessary documentation, if needed.”
He further noted that when obtaining a housing loan,a major concern that looms in the minds of customer is the long term financial commitment they must make, which often sees them tied down financially, for years.while many banks in the market offer decent interest rates for repayment most are at floating rates. Wijeyesekera said, “At Seylan we believe in providing our customers with sustainable financial stability and therefore we offer some of the most competitive fixed rates in the market which spans up to 10 years”.
Wijeyesekera states the bank will introduced more services and benefits to its home loan facility in the future, so that owning a home will be a reality for many Sri Lankans and no longer be a complicated and financially and psychologically draining process. Additionally, the bank has also re-launched its sales advisory efforts by establishing two teams namely a Central sales advisory unit based out of a state of the art Sales centre in Colombo 7 and an advisory sales force based at over 150 branches island-wide; who are waiting to visit customers at their own convenient location, to provide an unparalleled door step service.
The bank with its new retail banking proposition will also be in a position to offer many other benefits across its retail products including Personal loans, credit cards, vehicle loans, educational loans and deposit products etc.
Meanwhile Chief Manager Personal Banking Eugene Seneviratne commenting on details of the internal re-haul of the home loan facility said, “We have redesigned our internal documentation processes to obtain the crucial information from the customer who will help process the loan application within a short period of time. Our ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) form helps us identify the maximum loan amount possible, in line with a customer’s financial eligibility - faster. Furthermore, we personally oversee the collation of all documentation neededto process every loan application. These along with the new and improved centralisation process as well as internal workflow systems will work better to enhance our customer experience”.
Seneviratne notes that once a customer obtains the Home Loan facility, they also gain access to the entire banking portfolio of the bank, such as the ‘Seylansure’ reward scheme and the Seylan Income Saver and access to special offers by Seylan Credit and Debit Cards. A Home Loan customer will also receive a pre-approved credit card to the value of 10 percent of the approved loanamount,with a maximum credit limit of Rs. 1 million.
Seylan Home Loans can be obtained with hassle free documentation and is processed within 48 hours. With a repayment plan that reaches up to 25 years, customers can obtain solo or joint loans ranging from Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 100,000,000.
With a partner network of 32 condominium apartment projects in the country,the bank offers special interest rates based on the repayment plan selected. Seylan Bank is also the principal banking partner for housing exhibitions ‘Sihina Nivahana’ and ‘Kedella’.