Banking

Amana Bank expands preseice in Eastern Province

Amana Bank opened its sixteenth branch at Main Street, Nintavur on January 08, 2013 expanding its presence and reach in the Eastern Province. The new branch will offer the citizens of Nintavur a different experience with its unique banking model.

The launch was attended by Al Haj MohamedSaththar, Registrar, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Oluvil, the Bank's Managing Director/CEO, Faizal Salieh, Chief Operating Officer, Mohamed Azmeer, members of the Corporate Management Team, local businessmen and customers.

Amana Bank MD/CEO accepting the first deposit from a customer

Addressing the gathering Faizal Salieh said, "We want to have a strong presence in the Eastern Province as we see tremendous potential and opportunities in this area in the post- conflict era.

With our unique banking proposition based on the principals of Fairness, Justice and Equity we believe that we can add a new value adding dimension to the growth and development of the Consumer and the SME business segments in this area, particularly agriculture, fisheries and trading."

Nintavur will be the Bank's sixth branch situated in the Eastern Province which includes Kattankudy, Kalmunai, Oddamavadi, Sammanthurai andAkkaraipattu. Customers of Nintavur can now enjoy services such as Current accounts, Savings accounts, Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) accounts, Non Resident Foreign Currency (NRFC) accounts, Children's Savings accounts, Term Investment accounts, Housing Finance, Leasing facilities, SME Banking, Corporate Banking, Trade Services and Treasury Services.

The Bank has aggressive plans to expand its reach this year and introduce new products and services to offer greater convenience to its customers.

Al Haj Mohamed Saththar and the Bank's VP Operations & Business Support, M. M. S Quvylidh, also spoke at this occasion.

Amana Bank is the first Licensed Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka which fully functions on the principles of Sharia banking. Powered by the stability and the support of its strategic shareholders Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, the Islamic Development Bank based in Saudi Arabia and AB Bank in Bangladesh, Amana Bank is making an aggressive journey in the Sri Lankan banking industry. While already being the market leader in Sharia-based banking, Amana Bank is focused on capitalizing on the growing market potential for this unique banking concept among all communities in the country.

Orient Wealth opens Kegalle branch

The Orient Wealth Limited has expanded its investment management services to Kegalle by opening its branch at Janashakthi office building, Main Street, Kegalle, for the benefit of the investors in the area.

Orient Wealth Head of Corporate sales, Rohan Senewiretne delivering the welcome speech to investors.

The new branch is part of a strategic expansion drive aimed at identifying key geographic regions and devising effective ways to make capital market investments more popular amongst the general public.

Prof. D.B.P Hareendra Dissabandara, the acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Sri Lanka, addressed investors in Kegalle at the investor forum held to mark the new branch opening. Professor Dissabandara explained the investors about the role played by the SEC as the regulator of capital markets and gave an overview of Unit Trust fund management companies like Orient Wealth.

He further stressed the importance of Unit Trusts to the general public as an effective investment vehicle to commence investing their savings.

Many distinguished personalities from the area including the Member of Parliament Kabir Hashim, Gopura Furniture chairman, Saman Gopura, and Sri Latha Jewelers chairman, M. Subramanian, were present at the forum and graced the occasion.

Investors in Kegalle can now contact Orient Wealth and find out about the range of investment products offered by the fund manager to meet investors' personal financial objectives. Investors' money is held under the custody of Deutsche Bank, Colombo branch who are the Trustee and Custodian of the unit trust funds managed by Orient Wealth Limited, the press release stated.

BRICS edge closer to deal on development bank

BRICS emerging nations are close to reaching a deal that would create a joint development bank, the South African diplomat charged with managing an upcoming summit of the five countries said.

"There is a lot of convergence on key issues," said Anil Sooklal, the deputy director general at the Department for International Relations.

While details have yet to be finalised, Brazil, Russia, Indian, China and South Africa appear to be in near agreement on the toughest issue concerning the bank: how much cash they will each put in.

"The amount of $50 billion each is something we have all found comfort with, but it remains a work in progress." The establishment of a bank is one of South Africa's priorities for a BRICS summit it will host in Durban in March.

Ahead of the meeting, finance ministers of the group have been charged with examining the feasibility of establishing a bank.

"They have a number of meetings and will report to the BRICS leaders on the fringes of the G20 summit in Moscow next month," Sooklal said.

South Africa has expressed its desire to host the bank, but he location has not yet been decided upon.

"We have agreed that the bank must be led by the BRICS and that the BRICS will have the major shareholding. We are still deciding on whether other partners will be brought in.

"The question of a host country has not come up. It will be situated in a BRICS country and exactly where has still to be discussed," said Sooklal.

AFP