Industrial Finance to open seven service centres

Industrial Finance Limited (IFL) will open service centres in Tambuttegama, Kaduruwela, Buttala, Dehiattakandiya, Embilipitiya, Moneragala and Mahiyangana within the next few months to cater to the specific financial needs of the people in these areas.

Director/CEO IFL, Suren Liyanage, said that these service centres with a staff of 2-3 will go to the doorstep of the customers to facilitate their financial needs and attract deposits.

“We are planning to open branches in Kandy, Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Matara and Gampaha and awaiting approval from the Central Bank. As soon as we get the approvals we will go ahead as planned.At present we have two branches in Anuradhapura and Negombo.”

He said that they are planning to shift the city branch to Maitland Crescent by mid this month to provide a more friendly and efficient service to customers.

Liyanage said that they will get a feedback from the customers and tailor-make products to suit their needs as opposed to introducing products which are developed by IFL according to our understanding, which in turn do not cater to their needs.

There is scope for expansion in the rural areas as there is a vast untapped market. At present rural entrepreneurs deal with the banks but not finance companies.

IFL is looking at areas such as agriculture industry, SMEs and expatriates to expand their business and IFL will introduce tailor-made products for lending as well as for investment. He said that to cater to the expatriates they have to get approval from the Central Bank.

Understanding the customer and serving all his needs under one roof, be it micro or large is what we are planning to do. The company will develop investment products so that savings can even be done in small quantities.

Another area we are looking at is combining a traditional fixed deposit product with a traditional insurance product so that customers can get some additional benefits.” We are looking at a hybrid product by combining these two products with additional benefits to the customer,” he said.

At the time IFL was taken over by the ASPIC group the staff strength was 52 and we have increased the cadre to 70 while plans are under way to recruit another 60 in the near future.

He said that after IFL was taken over by the ASPIC group in February they streamlined the operations of the company and introduced good governance and best practices to be in the forefront of the finance industry and give cutting edge options with the best benefits to the customers.

Liyanage said that they appointed the right people to the right place and created an environment where the staff can work efficiently thereby increasing productivity.

IFL set up in 1962, operated in Colombo serving a niche market and was also involved in giving loans to the SMEs. At present the ASPIC Corporation owns 85% of IFL.

Liyanage is a group Director of ASPIC Corporation and a director of CIFL. The Young CEO has many plans to increase the bottomline of the company and give more benefits to customers.

S G