Banking

Top travel agents partner with American Express

American Express, the premier credit card acquired and issued solely by Nations Trust Bank PLC in Sri Lanka, recently partnered with the top giants of the Travel industry, to offer surcharge-free airline tickets, especially for this festive season.

In an exclusive benefit available for Nations Trust Bank's American Express Card Members in Sri Lanka, industry bigwigs Classic Travel Pvt Ltd, Gabo Travels Pvt Ltd, George Steuarts Travel International Ltd, Mackinnons American Express Travel (Pvt) Ltd and Hemas Travels Pvt Ltd will waive the surcharge fee on airline tickets purchased before December 31. This offer also permits card members to purchase their tickets this year with the intention of travelling next year.

Head of American Express Cards at Nations Trust Bank PLC Priyantha Talwatte, commenting on this innovative new deal said this is the first time that surcharge has been waived on travel tickets and we are delighted to offer this exclusive benefit to our American Express card members.

"The industry has operated on the standard norm of charging a surcharge fee for credit card payments on all travel tickets. Our breakthrough campaign has completely changed the way the business operates, offering the American Express customer a clear cut tangible cost benefit that remains unmatched by the competition," Talwatte said.

"Innovation continues to be our focus and we strongly believe in being the leader in the industry in offering unsurpassed experiences to our customers," he added.

In addition to the waiver of the standard industry surcharge fee, American Express will also have on offer special extended payment packages for tours to Europe, Egypt, India, Bangkok, Malaysia, Switzerland, Singapore, Dubai, Paris and Euro Disneyland as well as star cruise packages and Royal Caribbean Cruises with monthly instalments starting from as low as Rupees 8,500/-.

Moreover card members are also assured of free travel insurance with recently enhanced travel insurance covers to include loss of passport and trip interruption covers, when the payment for the ticket is made via the credit card.

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RDB introduces drip irrigation technology

Bandula Gunasekara, Matara Staff Correspondent

The Ruhunu Development Bank (RDB) has taken measures to introduce drip irrigation technology instead of usage of water pumps operated with fuel to cultivators, the Chairman of the Bank, Sarath Rathnayaka said.

The objective of the programme was to facilitate the farmers depending on vegetable cultivation and who were inconvenienced due to the price hike of fuel.

Most of those farmers used water pumps operated with fuel to supply water required for their cultivations.

Meanwhile bank also will issue loans to the farmers in the dry zone from Rupees three lakhs at an interest of eight per cent for the utilisation of solar power to operate drip-water technique as an alternative to supply water for their cultivations.

The project will also be implemented in Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts shortly, the Chairman said.

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ComBank's CSR Trust awards 25 scholarships

Commercial Bank of Ceylon, recently presented 25 scholarships, each worth Rs. 25,000 a year, to needy undergraduates from around the country. Selected undergraduates are entitled to Rs. 2,500 in scholarship money per month for ten academic months of every year that they study at the University, under this programme launched by the Bank's Corporate Social Responsibility Trust last year.

Speaking at the presentation of the new scholarships Deputy Chairman of Commercial Bank B.R.L.Fernando said; "We are very pleased to be able to help young people achieve their potential through higher education.

As one of the country's largest banks, the Commercial Bank recruits the products of the university system as employees, and we believe it is our duty to help the university system. At a time when the budgets allocated for education are under pressure, we feel it is the duty of the Corporate Sector to help in this manner."

This is the second batch of undergraduate scholarships awarded by the Bank's CSR Trust which was formed in 2004. Last year, the Trust awarded scholarships to 100 graduates, who are currently receiving Rs.2,500 a month.

Recipients for this year's scholarship program were identified with the assistance of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on criteria used in the Mahapola Scholarship Scheme.

Being ineligible for Mahapola or any other scholarship program, the number of attempts made at the GCE A/L examination, the number of school-going children in the family and parental income are some of the factors that are taken into consideration when selections are done.

The Commercial Bank's CSR Trust was established for the purpose of fostering projects focused on education, healthcare, child welfare, rehabilitation of irrigation systems and community service.

The Trust commenced with a startup capital of Rs 25 Million and the Bank contributes up to one per cent of its post tax profits every year to the Trust.

The Commercial Bank also has a rewards scheme for deserving younger students. All holders of Arunalu minors accounts who excel at the year 5 scholarship examination every year are given valuable cash prizes. Since its inception nearly 400 cash awards totaling Rs 2.8 Million have been presented to such students.

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Chinese banks enter India

UK's Standard Chartered, the largest foreign bank in India, is being courted by three of China's state-run banks for a significant stake, but the British banking giant termed media reports to this effect as speculative.

However, the deal, if it goes through, has the potential to give the Chinese government a significant presence in the Indian banking space, where StanChart has the biggest branch network among overseas banks.

According to separate reports today in The Times and Financial Times dailies, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China (BoC) and China Construction Bank (CCB) have evinced interest in purchasing a 17 per cent stake in the UK bank held by Singapore government's investment arm Temasek.

When asked for comments on the development, StanChart's External Communications Head Tim Baxter told PTI: "This is speculation from an unnamed source and we do not comment on market rumours." StanChart has 81 branches in India with licenses to open two more branches.

Besides, it reached an agreement in September to acquire for 860 million dollars US-based American Express Bank, which also has seven branches in India. Together, these 90 branches account for the bulk of total 258 branches of 29 foreign banks in India as of September 2006.

The media reports said that the three Chinese banks have touched base with Temasek, the largest shareholder in the British bank that acquired an 11.5 per cent stake in 2006 and later increased it to over 17 per cent.

PTI