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HDFC Bank teams up with Union Assurance

HDFC in partnership with Union Assurance PLC, has introduced a children's savings plan that has an inbuilt insurance cover for the guardian or parent. According to Suresh Amarasekara - GM HDFC the objective of this children's savings plan is to offer a secure future for all children in Sri Lanka.

He said that this innovative approach has opened opportunities for the parents to plan for their children's future requirements such as education.

This partnership has strengthened the cause further by ensuring the original amount intended to be saved by the parents is made available to the child, even if the parents are not around due to an eventuality.

HDFC Bank whose core business is to provide speedier and affordable housing finance to the masses also entered into an agreement with Union Assurance PLC to offer loan protection policies to their housing loan customers. Both HDFC and UA have stamped their class in their respective industries through a highly customer centric approach.

Loan Protection covers are taken by borrowers to absolve their loved ones from being left with the burden of paying their loans or face the forfeiture of their homes in case of death of the principal borrower.

The Loan protection policy covers the insured for the term of the loan and pays out the loan's outstanding balance to the lending institution at a time of death or permanent disability of the borrower.

Parmers Insurance Brokers a new entrant to insurance brokering were also involved in facilitating this HDFC-UA partnership.

'Marina' cooking oil launched

Cherubium Lanka an affiliation of N.M.K.Group launched coconut oil and cooking oil under the brand name 'Marina' at 'Waters Edge' last week

"Coconut oil has a unique role in the diet as an important physiologically functional food.

The health and nutritional benefits that can be derived from consuming coconut oil have been recognized in many parts of the world for centuries. Coconut oil is at worst neutral with respect to atherogenicity of fats and oils and, in fact, is likely to be beneficial for prevention and treatment of some diseases. Unfortunately, there is a popular misconception among the Sri Lankans that coconut oil is not a vegetable oil.

But it is wrong, coconut oil is also a kind of vegetable oil. There is a growing demand in the world to use pure coconut oil rather than vegetable oil" said, Managing Director of N.M.K.Group, Manjula Narayana.

Narayana said, "This is the pinnacle of the company, which had to be reached someday.

Embarking on the coconut related business with many hardships at the onset the huge obstacle was the lack of knowledge and the technology to produce high quality oil in this soil at a less cost.

Though I inherited this business from my father with local technology it was not enough to expand the products throughout the country.

Therefore, I had to go abroad to seek the technology and returned with enough knowledge to produce oil in Sri Lanka. Now I am proud to say that the Marina oil is a truly Sri Lankan product." he said.

He said that today Sri Lankans consume less quality coconut oil and cooking oil because of less competitiveness among the producers. Now that vacuum is filled with this product in the market.

All these products are manufactured by using only Sri Lankan raw materials with a local experts' supervision and introduced with an affordable competitive price to the market.

"Marina refined coconut oil is a manifestation of selected desiccated coconut, which comes with high quality and natural refinery system. The low fat composition of this product energizes the human body's digestion system efficiently" said Narayana.

SB

Amana Investments wins Gold award

Amana Investments won the coveted Gold Award for the Financial Services Category at the Sri Lanka - Malaysia fifth Annual Business Awards Ceremony. The Award Ceremony at the Hilton Colombo was organized by the Sri Lanka - Malaysia Business Council, under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. This is the first time Amana Investments had taken part in this prestigious award ceremony and had succeeded in winning the Gold Prize in its first attempt.

Amana Investments' Managing Director Faizal Salleh received the award on behalf of the company from Chief Guest Minister of Export Development and International Trade, Prof. G.L. Peiris, High Commissioner for Malaysia to Sri Lanka Rosll Ismail and President Sri Lanka - Malaysia Business Council Kevin de Silva, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Malaysia, Dr. D.D. Ranasinghe, Chairman - The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Anura Ekanayake, President - Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka Kosala Wickramanayake were also present.

Salieh said, "It is indeed a privilege and honour for Amana to have won this Gold Award.

From our inception we have strived to promote and establish the strongly ethics-driven business models of Islamic finance, banking and insurance as an alternative to the conventional models in Sri Lanka, and to this end we have drawn our inspiration from the successes of Bank Islam in Malaysia.

We wish to share our joy with all our valued customers, committed employees and shareholders for enabling us achieve this honour".

Amana Investments has had links with Malaysia since 1999 by partnering with Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB), Malaysia's pioneer Islamic financial services provider. As a strategic partner, BIMB provides technical expertise on the operational aspects of running an Islamic financial institution.

Having received provisional approval from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to establish a fully-fledged and Sharia-compliant commercial bank, Amana will continue to work with BIMB and other strategic investors to design and deliver a new range of Islamic banking services, which includes current accounts, foreign exchange transactions, inward and outward remittances, export financing, guarantees, performance bonds, bid bonds, Corporate Treasury placements, private banking, wealth management, long term housing finance, infrastructure financing, agricultural finance, and leasing.

Sampath Bank pays tribute to Sanhinda Savers

Sampath Bank PLC hosted their senior citizen savings account holders to an evening of fun and entertainment at the Gallery Cafe, recently.

The event was organized to mark the launch of 'Sanhinda Saver' account for senior citizens that gives them interest twice a month along with a host of other benefits and special offers from the partner merchant outlets such as Vision Care, DSI, Gabo Travels, Asiri Hospitals and Walkers Tours.

AGM Marketing and Deposits Tharaka Ranwala - enlightened the guests on the uniqueness of the new 'Sanhinda Saver' scheme, which allows the account holder to be eligible for earning interest on their savings twice a month, unlike other senior citizens saving schemes. And the account holders are given priority service at any Sampath Branch and 'Door Step Banking Facility' is offered at 50 percent discount, free medical checkups, local and foreign tours, and other seasonal offers from selected merchant outlets.

Frostaire celebrates 29th anniversary

Frostaire celebrates 29 years of success in the air conditioning industry.

Established on a small scale at Vauxhall Street Colombo 2 with two employees in 1980, as a service oriented company and moved into a more convenient location at Union Place, Colombo 2. The Managing Director Mukthar Marikkar thanked the customers and the staff for their untiring efforts, commitment and support towards establishing a strong presence in the Sri Lankan air conditioning market.

Frostaire has proved its valued customers the ultimate and unmatchable service for many years, specially to the corporate, financial, Government and domestic sectors providing total air conditioning solutions.

Spikes Asia Festival 2009

The Metal Factor in partnership with Yes FM will be conducting competition to select a team of four young advertising professionals to attend the Spikes Asia Festival 2009 which will be held in Singapore from September 16-18.

Metal Factor, a partnership between Sri Lanka's advertising industry professionals to achieve global standards in the industry, has tied up with Yes FM, to promote more learning opportunities through wider interaction and knowledge platforms, creating more exposure for young advertising professionals.

Sri Lanka has been granted a placement for a single team comprising four young professionals to compete in the Young Spikes competition and to be Sri Lanka's contenders for the Asian title. The team will be the first Sri Lankans to participate at the Young Spikes competition.

The competition in Sri Lanka, conducted by Metal Factor and Yes FM will consist of a training session for the participating teams by Sri Lankan advertising professionals, followed by a brief for a specific assignment. A Creative Director will be assigned to each team as their mentor.