There is so much to like about Sampath Bank’s approach to corporate responsibility. The Sri Lankan bank spent Rs91.3 million ($300,000) on all corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in 2023. That is small compared to the sums lavished on the space by bigger lenders. Yet the bank, which allocates 1% of net profit to projects that further environmental and social sustainability, manages to squeeze so much out of what it has to give.
During the awards period, the bank focused its attention on 84 initiatives, helping around 125,000 individuals.
“We prioritize sustainability as the top-most objective of CSR,” says Sampath’s managing director Ayodhya Iddawela Perera. “As a [nation-wide] bank, we must shoulder greater responsibility in assuring sustainability amid current economic, social and environmental challenges. We are committed to tackling the root causes of these challenges, not just their symptoms; relying on a collaborative model built on the tripartite efforts of the bank leadership, ‘Team Sampath’, and the community itself.”
Those campaigns are also always well thought through. The island nation’s tank cascade system, found nowhere else, is a 2,000-year-old irrigation structure that channels fresh water to millions of people as well as countless birds and animals, including the endangered elephant community. Many of these tanks – reservoirs that store water for the dry season – are in disrepair. Sampath Bank is repairing 21 of them, giving farmers a steady supply of water to feed their fields. Pathirana says the aim is to completely restore 10 tanks this year.
Other notable programmes include working with the University of Colombo and 88 schools to plant tens of thousands of trees to create a green corridor stretching the length of the island. Pathirana also points to a host of ecological projects, including a push to restore coral reefs in the south and northwest.
“We also focused on mangrove restoration and on turtle conservation, in tandem with wildlife organizations, charities and environmental groups,” he adds. “We are working closely with relevant organizations to help solve conflicts between people and elephants – that’s a longstanding crisis.”
Sampath has been allocating funding to healthcare facilities for years. Its Adopt an Ambulance, a campaign first unveiled in 1990, has seen it disburse Rs50 million to maintain 10 ambulances, providing vital support to rural communities across all nine provinces.
During the awards period, the bank focused its attention on 84 initiatives, helping around 125,000 individuals
“This is a highly impactful programme, as it helps ambulances get to regions faster and serve the neediest people, often in remote regions,” says Pathirana.
Another key campaign involves tackling a stubbornly low level of financial inclusion. More than half of all citizens remain outside the financial system. Sampath’s solution is three-fold: to build more physical branches; to spend more on improving its digital services; and to work with the likes of domestic telecommunications firm Dialog Axiata to deliver mobile money services to individuals lacking formal bank accounts.
In 2023, Sampath unveiled a new tie-up with Unicef Sri Lanka to form a partnership aimed at delivering critical support to more than 120,000 vulnerable young mothers, providing them with healthcare services and proper nutrition.
