ADVERTORIAL

Spathodea Residencies set up

Spathodea Residencies has been designed flanking one of the busiest highways in Colombo, with a calm, cool atmosphere of tranquil elegance.

Spathodea Residencies is a project by Sithma Development (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Hatton National Bank.

At a time when many people, in Sri Lanka and overseas, are looking for quality apartments close to the business hub of Colombo, Spathodea, strategically placed along Havelock Road, not only cuts down on travelling time to many leading schools, businesses and hospitals, but also gives easy access to supermarkets, malls, restaurants and recreation spots.

Attractively designed with a rooftop swimming pool, gym and jogging track, Spathodea was carefully planned to provide luxury apartments of a manageable size to both individuals and small families.

Well equipped with numerous facilities like garbage collection, round the clock security and CCTV, this state-of-the-art apartment complex focuses on providing residents with ultra comfortable living quarters that require only a modicum of maintenance, and fit perfectly into today's busy, modern lifestyles.

Comprising 48 apartments, 25 percent of which have already been sold, prospective buyers can choose from six different interiors.

Offering buyers the option of choosing either a two bedroom or three bedroom apartment (inclusive of attached bathrooms), each of these choice units has been designed to make the maximum use of light, air and available space, and comes complete with a sitting room, dining area, pantry, maid's room (with bathroom) and several cosy balcony alcoves for relaxation.

All Spathodea apartments come with air conditioning, stylised fittings and an elegant finish, to offer you the finer things of life in an atmosphere that exudes luxury, elegance, exclusivity and comfort.

Hatton National Bank will provide Shanthi Home Loans upto 70 percent of the purchase price based on the repayment capacity of the buyer.

Ceylonta Prabodhaya to showcase talents

Ceylonta Prabodhaya, a talent search with a difference will offer Sri Lanka’s multifaceted men and women a unique opportunity to showcase their special talents on and off the stage. The contest which will feature performing and non-performing categories was announced last week at the Galadari Hotel.

Organisers of Ceylonta Prabodhaya provided a broad outline of the format of the competition at this event.

The performing category of the show will include competitive singing, traditional dancing and playing a musical instrument while the non-performing aspect of the show will feature dress designing, painting, decorative pottery and handicraft contests.

The primary goal of the Ceylonta Prabodhaya is to provide Sri Lankan men and women the opportunity to take a life-altering, defining step to share their innate talents with the community.

Ceylonta Prabodhaya will be open only to contestants over the age of 18 to encourage busy individuals whose time may have been occupied with careers, marriage and raising children and so neglected or sidelined their gifts. The show hopes to give such participants a boost and awaken them to the possibilities of a bright future in which their talent and skills are recognized and rewarded.

The preliminary rounds of the competition will be held at five main cities that encompass all the major zones of a specific region, Ceylonta Brand Manager, Azam Hamdoon said.

Although there are numerous talent contests constantly being held very few offer winners and participants the guidance and direction to navigate the future, once their talents and skills have been recognized.

Ceylonta Prabodhaya hopes to fill this void by offering participants advice and career guidance that will assist them to brighten up their lives by using their inherent abilities.

The competitions’ judging panel also participated at the event, to provide insights as to how even in the judging process; Ceylonta Prabodhaya aims to be a different kind of talent search.

Instead of making the panel a composition of persons skilled in a particular area, the panel will comprise university professors specialising in each field. The organizers hope that this panel will not only make accurate judgements on the most skilled participants, but will also give all contestants a unique opportunity to obtain actual academic advice and guidance regarding their specific skills.

Rajini Selwanayagam, Dance and Drama Faculty, University of Visual and Performing Arts Dean Ariyaratne Kaluarachchi and University of Visual and Performing Arts Senior Lecturer Mahanama Wickramasinghe who will be members of the judges’ panel also voiced their opinions about the show.

“At present there are more than enough talent searches being screened on television.

However, Ceylonta has stepped forward to present the Sri Lankan public with a show that is unique in many ways.

Although most existing talent shows provide ample opportunities for the youth of Sri Lanka to showcase their skills, Ceylonta Prabodhaya is aiming to reach those extremely busy and distracted people and re-energise them into rediscovering their innate talents,” said Kaluarachchi.

Exterminators awarded ISO 14001-2004

The Exterminators (Pvt) Ltd received the ISO 14001-2004 Environmental Management System (EMS) from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. The company is the only pest control company in Sri Lanka and the third in South Asia to achieve this standard.

The Exterminators (Pvt) Ltd, is one of the few companies in the pest management industry to have the ISO 9001-2000 and ISO 14001-2000 standard.

The Exterminators (Pvt) Ltd also implemented the IPM (Integrated Pest Management System) to minimize the use of chemicals harmful to the environment and introduced non chemical pest control methods to the pest management industry in the island.

The Exterminators (Pvt) Ltd is licensed and authorized by ROP Department of Agriculture Sri Lanka and also accredited by AQIS Department of Agriculture, Australia and affiliated to pest management associations in USA and Singapore and also holds an environmental protection licence issued by the Central Environmental Authority.

SunGard and Synapsys introduce AML solutions to Sri Lanka

As anti-money laundering continues to grow in importance both globally and in Sri Lanka, banks are required to monitor, investigate and report customers and transactions of a suspicious nature to the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank or Government agency.

Strong Know Your Customer capabilities are therefore very important to meet these regulatory requirements. Monitoring activities manually is expensive and prone to error but failure to comply leaves a firm facing fines, penalties and damage to their reputation.

The checking of Government sanctions and terrorist watch lists has become an integral part of protecting and safeguarding corporations’ business interests. In recent years there has been a significant increase in legislation (such as Sarbanes Oxley globally and the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism and Prevention of Money Laundering Acts in Sri Lanka) to curtail the illicit flow of funds into financial systems.

SunGard offers its banking customers a full suite of compliance and financial crime solutions through their Ambit portfolio.

The recent addition of more than 400 government watch lists from around the world, lists of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and media information from over 6,000 publications provided by Regulatory DataCorp (RDC) and a new online compliance solution for the checking of watchlists, Ambit Customer Due Diligence, has enabled SunGard’s Ambit Anti-Money Laundering solution to become a ‘one stop shop’ for a bank’s anti-money laundering regulatory compliance needs.

Available through SunGard’s Infinity Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Ambit Customer Due Diligence helps corporate risk and compliance officers maintain compliance with domestic and international regulations and sanctions, without adding a large technology footprint.

SunGard’s local partner for Ambit solutions Synapsys Ltd, a subsidiary of DFCC Bank, provides specialized consulting and IT services and solutions to meet the needs of the Financial Services Industry.

Chamara Kala Nikethanaya Dancing Head Rajini Selvanayagam, University of Visual and Performing Arts Senior Lecturer Mahanama Wickremasinghe and University of Visual and Performing Arts, Dance and Drama Faculty Dean Ariyaratne Kaluarachchi at the event. Pic by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa