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| Sunday, 18 July 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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FRL affirms AAA rating for Citibank, Sri Lanka Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd (FRL) affirms the AAA (sri) (Triple A) national rating for implied Long-term unsecured senior debt of Citibank, Sri Lanka. SL AAA long-term rating denotes a very low expectation of credit risk. The rating indicates a very strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events. Citibank(SL)'s rating draws on the strength of its parent Citigroup Inc, Given that the domestic entity is a branch, uses the 'Citibank' name and is operationally enmeshed with the groups global operations, we believe that Citigroup's support would be available under most conceivable circumstances, should it be so required. BoC account for teenagers A new bank account will be introduced by Bank of Ceylon to mark its 65th anniversary which falls on 1st August. It is meant for teenagers, namely Fourteen Plus (14+). BoC says that no bank account with the money withdrawing facility before the age of eighteen of the account holder is available in Sri Lanka at present. Nimal Peiris, Assistant General Manager Marketing & Business Development of Bank of Ceylon, said that an bank account of this nature is an urgent and very useful one for the teenagers who are employed in the private sector. Fourteen plus account holders will be issued a visa electronic card by the Bank and the card can be used to withdraw money from the bank to purchase goods and services from super markets, and selected marketing centres, according to the Asst. General Manager Nimal Peiris. He further revealed that thousands of school leavers from the age of 14 - 18 are being employed by the private sector, specially in janitorial service and allied fields with the approval of the Labour Department. According to the Labour Department, teenagers between 14-18 years can be recruited by the private sector only for day work - and their work shift including lunch hour should be limited to nine hours per day. Central Bank's approval has been granted to the Fourteen Plus bank account. NDB joins SEEDS in lending NDB signed an agreement with SEEDS Guarantee Ltd to lend an aggregate sum of Rs. 50.0 Mn to Micro enterprises that are spread around the country. Under this scheme, SEEDS will work as agent for NDB and will be responsible for identification of entrepreneurs, granting of facilities and also recovery. Under this scheme, a maximum loan of Rs. 500,000/- can be obtained by an eligible borrower through SEEDS where the value of fixed assets do not exceed Rs. 3.0 Mn. It is planned to grant around 400 to 500 micro loans, helping an equal number to set up or expand their own business operations and to help enhance their income levels. SEEDS is the lending arm of Sarvodaya Shramadana movement, and has experience in lending to Micros in almost all parts of the country. They also maintain a very attractive collection ratio of over 90 per cent, mainly due to their close supervision. NDB's decision to team-up with SEEDS in lending to Micro sector has been influenced by its past success and experience in lending to this sector. Dialog supports education at SOS Village Dialog GSM through its charitable arm, the Change Trust Fund, has made a commitment to sponsor 300 students through the SOS Children's' Village in Piliyandala. The donation will assist these children in their education for a period of one year. The sponsorship was handed over to Project Director - Administration and Finance Ananda Karunarathne, SOS Children's Villages of Sri Lanka, by Moksevi Prelis, a Trustee of the 'Change Trust Fund' in the presence of a large gathering of SOS children, their parents, friends and supporters, at the SOS Day celebrations held at the SOS Children's Village, recently. Dialog GSM's General Manager of Market Development, Corporate Planning, Quality and MIS Mothilal de Silva said: "Dialog GSM has always supported programmes that help create better prospects for marginalized children, as we believe in nurturing children for the future, today. We are indeed proud to be associated with SOS children's Villages, and I am grateful to the organization for the assistance they have extended to us. I sincerely hope that this donation will help make a positive change in the lives of these children". French Corner showroom at Hyde Park French Corner opened another exclusive showroom - 'Parade' at Hyde Park Corner recently. It is much more than a showroom for clothing. The range for men, women, teenagers and little children turns the clothing store into an amazing wonderland where one can choose from the latest designs of pants, skirts, tops, nightwear to fashion accessories such as belts, shoes, costume jewellery, wrist watches and perfumes. The new Parade at Hyde Park Corner is an addition to the two Parade outlets at Mount Lavinia and Nugegoda. Informatics signs contract with Tonga Informatics signed a contract with Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) in the Kingdom of Tonga, in the South Pacific for its AvaBill Telecom Software recently. The AvaBill Telecom Software modules are supplied to support GSM Services, and it will allow TCC to launch post-paid GSM services and roaming services to its customers and tourists with GSM roaming. The project is undertaken by Informatics as a Turnkey Solution, providing total hardware, OS and RDBMS integration services as well. TCC is licensed as a full facility telecommunications service provider having a Universal Access commitment throughout the Kingdom of Tonga. The company provides a range of local and international voice and data services via a Fixed Line network and a GSM cellular network. TCC also provides a variety of Internet and leased line services. Export milestone for CEAT Sri Lanka tyre manufacturer CEAT recently notched up another milestone, when the company exported its 1000th container of locally manufactured tyres. Exports from CEAT received a boost after the announcement of the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In the two years since it began exports, CEAT has exported tyres for trucks, buses, light trucks, tractors, tractor trailers and animal drawn vehicles, valued at over Rs. 2 billion. CEAT Managing Director/CEO, Oscar Braganza said: "The dedication of our employees, capacity enhancement initiatives and stringent quality process adopted during the manufacturing process have enabled us to meet the strong and increasing international demand for our tyres." Seylan Bank rewards top performers Seylan Bank's annual performance review for the year 2003 and the awards ceremony for top performers, was held recently R. Renganathan, Joint Deputy chairman, Ajit Pasqual Director / General Manager / Chief Executive, the Corporate Management team, Heads of Divisions, and Branch Managers took part in highly interactive sessions for two days.The bank's overall performance was analysed in relation to the performance of Seylan Banks regions, areas, individual branches and strategic business units. The methodology used to evaluate performance was the Balanced Scorecard concept which had been effectively implemented by the Corporate Planning and Research Division of the bank. The Balanced Scorecard is a management system that can channel the energies, abilities and specific knowledge held by people throughout the Bank towards achieving long term strategic goals.The Balanced Scorecard looks at the banks performance from four different perspectives, namely Financial, Customer, Employee and Internal Processes. 21 awards were presented in 8 categories including the award for The Best Overall branch. |
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