Amana-PABC in strategic alliance

Amana Investments, entered into a strategic alliance with PABC Bank to bring Amana’s customers a new range of value added services.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two financial institutions allows PABC Bank to provide foreign exchange products and services such as travellers’ cheques and foreign currencies for travellers, and the encashment of travellers’ cheques, foreign currency notes and foreign currency drafts at the customer service counters of Amana Investments.

These services will initially be available at Amana’s counters in Colombo and will be later extended to its branches outside Colombo.

The high networth customers will receive home delivery services. Commenting on the new arrangement, Amana’s Head of Operations, M.S. Quvylidh, said “Through this alliance we are now able to provide our customers a service that they have been long demanding. It’s a timely value-addition and the whole process is Sharia compliant”.

PABC’s Senior Deputy General Manager, Claude Peiris, said “We are one of the largest issuers of AMEX travellers’ cheques in the market and are happy to extend this capability to Amana’s customers.”

Amana will also provide its top-end customers with co-branded ATM cards which they can use to draw money on their investment accounts with Amana at any PABC ATM point. PABC has 26 ATM points in the main cities.

“This is a good example of two different financial institutions, one offering conventional banking products and the other Islamic financial products co-operating to enhance customer service in the marketplace”, the Managing Director/CEO of Amana Investments Faizal Salieh, said.

In the previous week, an Amana subsidiary company launched the country’s first Sharia compliant equity fund called the NAMAL Amana Equity Fund in collaboration with National Asset Management Ltd.