ADVERTORIAL

ComBank to keep open on Good Friday

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced that 56 of its branches, holiday banking centres and supermarket banking counters will be kept open to serve customers on April 22, Good Friday, a statutory bank holiday.

Customers can carry out over-the-counter transactions at the chosen 19 branches, the nine holiday banking centres, the Colombo 07, Ampara, Negombo, Galle City, Kandy City Office, Jaffna, Negombo, Majestic City and Katubedda Holiday Banking Centres and at the bank's 28 supermarket banking counters.

The regular Commercial Bank branches that will be kept open on Good Friday include Wellawatte, Kollupitiya, Kotahena, Maharagama, Borella, Nugegoda, Narahenpita, Battaramulla, Panchikawatte, Union Place, Wattala, Dehiwala, Moratuwa, Nittambuwa, Kiribathgoda, Avissawella, Piliyandala and Main Street and the Foreign branch.

"Providing banking services on holidays has become essential in the fast-paced business environment today," said Commercial Bank Operations Deputy General Manager Sanath Bandaranayake "Commercial Bank has been at the forefront of offering banking services at selected strategic locations on bank and public holidays," he said.

Maliban Official Biscuit Provider for SLGGA

Maliban Biscuit Manufacturing Pvt Ltd was announced as the Official Biscuit Provider for the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association (SLGGA). Maliban will produce a new line of biscuits, the "Maliban Girl Guide Biscuit" which will be given free of charge to the SLGGA.

These biscuits will be sold by the Girl Guides and the proceeds used for the SLGGA building fund. In addition Maliban will also conduct leadership training programs and sponsor administration and management training workshops for the Girl Guides. Training programs will be conducted by Maliban on a monthly basis for the Girl Guides to enhance their leadership skills.

Maliban was the platinum sponsor for Rally 2011, the annual rally of the SLGGA, which was held on April 9, under the patronage of the First Lady Shiranthi Wickremasinghe Rajapaksa at Galle Face Green.

In recognition of these efforts, an appreciation award was presented to Maliban by the SLGGA, during Rally 2011. These initiatives are being conducted under the leadership of Maliban Biscuits Marketing Manager Hashan Haputhanthri.

Maliban Biscuits CEO D L Weerasuriya said that Maliban had decided to enter into this venture since the Girl Guides Association played a very valuable role in fostering leadership qualities among young girls who would become the future mothers and housewives of Sri Lanka.

Therefore Maliban was supporting this initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.

Maliban Biscuits Sales and Marketing CEO Ravi Jayawardena said, "Creating and nurturing leaders is the prime objectives of this venture. We are happy to tie-up with the future leaders".

SLGGA, Relationship to Society Director Shaleeka Abeygunasekera said

that these new programs would assist in the empowerment of girls and young women. With over 30,000 members across all nine provinces of the island the SLGGA is the largest voluntary organization for girls and young women in Sri Lanka and conducts many projects at grass roots level.

As such, this initiative between Maliban and the SLGGA will benefit a large number of participants.

Rally 2011 took place with the participation of around 3,500 Girl Guides from all 9 provinces of the country. It provided the Girl Guides with the chance to share a day of unity and spirit and was also be an opportunity for members from across the island to come together and appreciate the diversity prevalent amongst the members of the Girl Guides Association.

The rally as also used to launch new uniforms, new programs and a new image for the SLGGA.

This event combined a day of fun and challenges with the opportunity for members to be a part of the changes taking place within the SLGGA.

For eighth consecutive year :

Ceylinco Life cash bonus for loyal policyholders

More than 9,500 policyholders of Ceylinco Life received cash bonuses this year, the eighth time the company has paid these bonuses. As in previous years, these cash bonuses, which were in the form of immediately encashable cheques, were home-delivered by Ceylinco Life's 5000 strong sales team on April 9 and 10, the company said.

These bonuses are paid in addition to the Rs. 1.59 billion in annual bonuses declared by the company to active policyholders, and form part of the company's "Life Rewards" portfolio of exclusive benefits.

Policyholders who have completed 20 years were eligible to receive a cash bonus computed at Rs 75 per Rs 1,000 sum assured. Cash bonuses for those who have completed 15 years were computed at Rs 50 per Rs 1000 sum assured while those who completed 10 years received Rs 25 per Rs 1000 sum assured.

Accordingly, a participating policy with a sum assured of Rs 1 million was entitled to a cash bonus of Rs 25,000 on completion of 10 years, Rs 50,000 on completion of 15 years and Rs 75,000 on completion of 20 years.

"The trust and loyalty of our policyholders have earned them these rewards," Ceylinco Life Managing Director and CEO R Renganathan said, pointing out that the company has distributed cash bonuses worth nearly Rs 193 million over the last eight years. "We hope this enabled them to better celebrate the National New Year, at a time when expenses are high," he said.

Ceylinco Life's cash bonuses are structured to ensure that the bonus rates increase with loyalty, so that the longer the policy stays active, the higher the bonus received.

Ceylinco Life has now retained market leadership in the industry for the seventh consecutive year. The company achieved a Gross Premium Income of Rs 8.78 billion in 2010 and sold 157,523 new life policies while paying Rs. 2.7 billion in customer benefits during the year.

Best offers from Browns Direct2U stores

The Browns Group have innovated a new retail concept in Sri Lanka named Direct2U to give it’s customers a new dimension in shopping.

Group Managing Director Murali Prakash said, “This concept was brought about to give customers the best brands in the world at the best prices through a no-frills retail operation.”

This new concept has also given the benefit to the customer by cutting down on logistics and the unnecessary frills of running a high end showroom concept by offering the products direct from the ship to the warehouse for purchasing. The Direct2U stores which are located at Wattala, Moratuwa and Kotahena offer brand new world class products such as Sharp LED TVs, LCD TVs, vacuum cleaners, fridges, washing machines, hi-fi systems, microwaves and air conditioners at the most competitive prices in Sri Lanka.

World renowned brands such as Olympus cameras, binoculars, Usha Lexus home appliances such as hand mixers, pressure cookers, rice cookers, BG fans, water pumps, faxes and garden equipment as well as power tools could be purchased from these outlets along with many more products and brands.

All products are backed by the Browns warranty and service network which is available Islandwide.

The Direct2U concept which is now gaining momentum will be a novel shopping experience for customers who want the world’s best brands at the best price.

Navam Lanka clarifies lead ingots story

Responding to a news report published on April 2 regarding a press release by Nico Battery Manufacturers Director Sampath Gunaratne on a company exporting lead ingots illegally, Navam Lanka has made the following clarification:

“We, M/s Navam Lanka Limited are a manufacturing company located at 27 A, Mirigama Export Processing Zone, Mirigama, Gampha, Sri Lanka under the Board of Investment (a BOI company) of Sri Lanka.

“The company has completed over ten years of manufacturing and export operation in Sri Lanka.

“In your newspaper “Daily News” dated 02/04/2011, you have published an article with heading ‘Illegal export of lead ingots”. The article was reportedly based on a press release given by Director of M/s NICO Battery, a competitor company. It was reported that a company in Mirigama Export Processing Zone (EPZ) is exporting lead ingots illegally under unfair influence despite being banned to do so. We would like to state that our company is the only company in Mirigama EPZ who are exporting lead ingots. We also confirm that ‘we have never done any export activities illegally or under unfair influence’. There was no specific ban on the company from doing export of our ‘finished lead products’ i.e. Lead ingots (99.97 percent purity) and lead alloys”.

“We clarify the matter as under:

“1. The government of Sri Lanka through a Cabinet paper imposed a ban on October 14,2010 on export of scrap metal such as copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, lead and special kinds of iron and steel scrap for a trial period of six months. The ban did not apply to export of finished lead products, lead ingots and alloys. We are not exporting lead scrap. Being a BOI company, all loaded containers prior to export are subjected to clearance by BOI inspectors. The products being exported by us are value added products. We have been doing our export business following the law of the land and complying with all relevant rules and regulations.

“2. The news items said that the company is doing export by changing the HS code. This is a false allegation. We have never exported finished products by using changed HS codes.

“3. The production process of recycling and refining battery scrap is a pyrometallurgical smelting process being undertaken by us to produce finished lead and lead alloys. We have the necessary equipment for eco-friendly manufacturing operations and an effective pollution control mechanism to ensure compliance of international standards in the plant. It can boast to be one of the best pyrometallurgical controlled process plants for lead manufacturing in the country conforming to ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 18001 certifications.

“4. Ours being a company registered under BOI, we were not required to obtain an Export Licence. In fact, the BOI advised us to obtain and export licence vide their communication dated 10.03.2011 for the first time. We have immediately approached the Ministry of Industries for advising the Secretary – Industrial Development to give their recommendation for issue of export licence to us.

“We confirm that if any payment on account of an applicable export fee is payable by us on our exports following the Gazette Notification No 1627/2 dtd. November 9, 2009, the same will be paid by us”.