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Rising food prices are Sri Lankans’ biggest worry
ComBank announces revised deposit values for popular ‘Millionaire’ Investment Plan
Nations Trust Bank expands physical touchpoints with new cash deposits and withdrawal machines at Keells outlets
DIF managed by BOV Capital leads LKR 205 million funding round for IFINITY
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Nations Trust Bank, with the aim of expanding its seamless banking experience, upgraded three Cash Deposits and Withdrawal machines at Keells outlets in Akuregoda, Attidiya and Pita Kotte. These new additions to the Bank’s ATM network ensure a convenient banking experience for the customer with both cash deposits and withdrawals being paired with digital banking facilities.
The Cash Deposits and Withdrawal machine at the Keells Supermarket in Akuregoda was unveiled on the 19th of August 2022 by Lasith Nanayakkara, Chief Transformation and Information Security Officer at Nations Trust Bank and Akeel Muthaliph, Head of Revenue Planning at Keells while Kushlani Allis, Senior Vice President – Internal Audit at Nations Trust Bank and Thilini Kadigamuwage, Retail Manager at Keells inaugurated the machine in Attidiya on the 08th of August 2022. The machine at Pita Kotte was launched on 04th of August 2022 by Ramanika Unamboowe, Executive Vice President – Human Resources at Nations Trust Bank and Ravindu Madumal, Regional Manager at Keells.
“At Nations Trust Bank, our customer’s needs are at the center of everything we do, and we seek every opportunity to make their day-to-day life easier. The installation of new Cash Deposits and Withdrawal machines at these three locations has allowed us to expand our physical touchpoints, while seamlessly connecting our customers with our digital banking capabilities. Keells is one of the pioneering and recognized supermarket chains in the country, and this partnership will further enable opportunities for us to keep expanding our footprint to meet the needs of our customers.” said Randil Boteju, Senior Vice President, Acquisition & Digital Banking of Nations Trust Bank.
Nations Trust Bank’s latest Cash Deposits and Withdrawal machines are uniquely designed and connect its digital banking capabilities to offer a hassle-free service. The cash dispense module is paired with IoT (Internet of Things) solutions that allow customers to take advantage of a range of digital banking services. The self-service features enable customers to save their favourite transaction that they frequently engage in or to choose the exact bill mix for their needs to receive the exact denomination of cash notes they chose. In addition, ample parking spaces available at the Akuregoda, Attidiya and Pita Kotte Keells premises provide customers with easy to the ATM services.
With the addition of the Akuregoda, Attidiya and Pita Kotte machines, the Bank currently has five of these latest Cash Deposits and Withdrawal machines installed across various Keells outlets. Nations Trust Bank plans to continue its partnership with Keells, one of the largest supermarket chains in Sri Lanka, to keep extending its digital banking services at selected locations across the country.
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ComBank announces revised deposit values for popular ‘Millionaire’ Investment Plan
DIF managed by BOV Capital leads LKR 205 million funding round for IFINITY
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Staying true to its vision of developing rural economies, Sarvodaya Development Finance PLC (SDF) has continued to outperform during the first quarter of this financial year.
Reflecting public confidence in the Company, SDF’s deposit base grew by 10.1% from end March 2022, to end June 2022. The total assets of the Company recorded a marginal growth despite all social, political and economic challenges experienced in the country recently. SDF’s total income for the quarter ended June 30th 2022, was LKR 559.84 million, which is a growth of 40.9% compared to the income of LKR 397.34 million for the comparative period of FY 2021-22. The net operating income for the quarter increased by 22.6% to LKR 288.82 million, from LKR 235.65 million in the previous comparative quarter. The operating profit before tax on financial services increased by 55.8% to LKR 74.62 million, against the comparative figure of LKR 47.90 million one year ago. The profit before tax increased by 59.8% to LKR 45.30 million as compared to LKR 28.36 million in the previous year’s first quarter. SDF concluded the 1st quarter of FY 2022-23 with an after-tax profit growth of 115.0% reaching LKR 33.83 million, as compared to LKR 15.73 million achieved in the 1st quarter of FY 2021-22.
SDF expanded its agricultural lending portfolio and farming related support services, thereby actively facilitating recovery of the country’s essential agriculture sector. Through its strategic agreements with leading agricultural equipment and machinery suppliers, SDF modernizes rural farmers with modern agricultural equipment, such as combined harvesters, tractors, automated rice mills and other equipment to enhance agricultural outputs, supported by buy back agreements as a risk mitigation mechanism. Meanwhile, seasonal repayment plans have been developed for farmers to alleviate repayment pressure on farming communities, enabling them to repay their loans with the increase in income during harvest seasons. In an unique intervention, SDF also supplies its farming customers with liquid organic fertilizer (Effective Micro-organism), which is manufactured by the Sarvodaya Movement based on a patented Japanese formula. As a further support measure, SDF also negotiates forward buying contracts for farm produce, to ensure farmers are able to sell their products immediately at fair prices.
SDF will continue to remain vigilant of the country’s economic situation while continuing to support economic recovery by strengthening the community-based societies, small and medium entrepreneurs in the country by channeling vital funds for business continuity and growth.
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By Sanath Nanayakkare
A middle class mother walked into a grocery shop in Mattegoda yesterday with her two school-going children and asked for two chocolate flavoured milk packets, one packet of Tipi Tip, a medium sized canned fish and 500g of dhal and paid Rs. 1,559 for the damage without batting an eyelid. It was evident that she was too aware of the latest World Bank assessment which places Sri Lanka at No.5 among countries hardest hit by food price inflation.
As her kids start drinking the milk, she looked around with grave concern and anxiously said,” Will these increasing food prices ever drop? In our country, prices go up but never come down.”
Renuka Samantha Kumara and his wife Nilanthi Kuruppu – the owners of the retail outlet replied, “We can’t give you a straight answer on when food prices will come down, but prices have to come down soon because customers aren’t able to pay high grocery bills and traders also can’t pay suppliers’ eye-popping bill amounts. Customers see stars when they are told how much their bill comes to, and we’re shocked when our suppliers hand us the invoice for stock replenishments. So both consumers and traders are equally left wondering when the prices are going to come down.”
Later the family traders speaking to The Island said, “In our view, food prices have to go down by 40-50% in the near term for low and middle income households if they are to survive. Our customers fall into these two categories and they have no savings to dip into. What they do is cut down, cut down and cut down on their purchases. Our customers from low-income households have almost disappeared. Employees of the State sector and permanent employees of the private sector still have some capacity to buy at least part of what they used to buy before the high inflation hit. Some of them have told us that they can’t do anything else with their money but pay for food and monthly utility bills. Sad to say that daily wage earners who get only 2-3 days of work per week don’t show up to buy anything. We don’t know what they are eating.”
“Today we bought eggs at the price of Rs. 52 each and sell at Rs. 54 with a Rs. 2 margin, so we have to sell 52 eggs to earn the profit to take home two eggs for consumption without losing the capital we invested on eggs. These days customers avoid eggs like the plague because of its all-time high price, so we don’t know how long it will take to sell 52 eggs. Prices of fresh vegetables, fruits and discretional items such as biscuits, ice-cream, soap, toothpaste have hit through the roof and out of reach of the customers. Both consumers and shopkeepers are trading down because of unbearable price points. If there’s another wave of food price hikes due to increased fuel prices, rupee depreciation, supply chain disruptions, or some policy decision on the Pettah Market, consumers won’t be able to patronize our shop at all, and that will deal a great blow to our business. The government says that it will provide relief to low-income earners at the forthcoming budget to cushion against such vulnerabilities. That will be fine as an immediate option, but it will only be a stopgap to the problem. We believe that the real ‘social safety net ‘needs to come through private sector investments, a boom in infrastructure spending and a growing economy that works better for everybody from top to bottom. The government should give the vulnerable sections a fishing rod and not a fish,” they said.
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A committed fixed monthly deposit of just Rs 4,280 can begin the journey to millionaire status following an upward revision of the interest rate applicable to the popular aspiration-linked ‘Millionaire’ Investment Plan of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon to 15% per annum.
Reflecting the upward movements of interest rates, Sri Lanka’s benchmark private sector bank has announced the new monthly deposit requirements for two to six-year plans. Plans culminate in the depositor amassing the milestone million-rupee account balance, under this unique investment plan originally launched in 2015.
Accordingly, a fixed monthly deposit of Rs. 35,600 over two years, guarantees the depositor an amount of Rs 1 million, and a deposit of half that value – Rs 17,800 a month – will enable the depositor to accrue a balance of Rs 500,000 in two years, or to become a millionaire in four years, the Bank said.
Designed to be a flexible, easy-to-manage investment plan that generates expected returns within a targeted period of time, Commercial Bank’s Millionaire account enables customers to build up a minimum balance of Rs 500,000 or multiples of Rs 500,000 with no upper limit on the targeted investment over a period of two, three, four, five or six years.
The product retains another popular feature – the eligibility of the depositor to borrow an amount equivalent to up to 75% of his or her cumulative balance for any urgent requirement during the term of the investment plan.
Described as an aspiration-linked investment plan that enables account holders to build up a target amount within a specific period without a high initial investment, the ‘Commercial Bank Millionaire Investment Plan is designed primarily to cater to a segment that needs to fast track savings for specific purposes such as purchase of assets, children’s or own education or weddings.
Available to any Sri Lankan over 18 years of age, the investment plan also allows depositors to nominate beneficiaries to receive the total amount invested, without any penalty charge, in the event of their demise before maturity.
Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 12 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 268 branches and 940 automated machines in Sri Lanka. Commercial Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.
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