Abans sets up free personal financial advisory helpline

"Most Sri Lankans, from migrant workers to farmers and from traders to executives, still grapple with their personal finances - mostly due to a lack of awareness on sound personal finance management, but help is on the way," said Mrs. Mano Alles, a respected financial guru.

The veteran banker who was among the leading figures at Sri Lanka's premier bank, the Bank of Ceylon, is now spearheading the entry into the financial world, of one of Sri Lanka's leading business conglomerates - the Abans Group, and to mark the milestone, the new company Abans Finance, is offering a helpline to people in personal finance management. "Ironic as it may seem, the biggest quandary people experience today is not how little money they make but how best to spend it.

There is a general lack of prudent financial planning. At a different level, there are people with ideas, wanting to generate new avenues of income but with lack of knowledge in how to get about it. The concept may not be tried and tested but we thought we would make the initiative", said Mrs. Alles.

In this pioneering concept which is being treated more as a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative, Abans Finance invites people to bring their questions and problems to a resource panel.

The panel would answer queries on personal financial management including how to have a balance sheet in life, how to manage personal debt, how to create savings habits and also offer tips on planning a small business, expansion of self-employment activities and procurement of personal and business assets like leasing of vehicles and Real Estate.

The concept will be tested through a pilot project involving 10 windows of Abans Finance in key cities islandwide.

"We will initially operate only 10 windows in sync with Abans showrooms. People in these areas may talk to the Financial Advisory Assistants posted at these windows who will in turn forward the queries to the panel based in Colombo.

"The panel may directly get in touch with the individual or refer back through the company's respective windows officer, in helping the recipient on to the right track in planning his finances. The panel will however not offer investment advice beyond personal savings in commonly accepted investment tools."