Sampath Bank branches soon in Kalmunai and Kaththankudi

Sampath Bank will open branches in Kalmunai and Kaththankudi this year while the bank is planning to open a branch in Jaffna by early next year.

DGM Sampath Bank Nimal Tillekeratne said that all branches excluding Batticaloa will have a women’s unit specially for Muslims.” It will be exclusively for women served by women.”

He said that at present not much farming activities are taking place in the North and East except in the interior while their main activities are fisheries and trading.

He said that agriculture is being practised mostly in Akkaraipattu and Samanthurai. The bank supports its customers to buy machinery as well as other implements to boost agriculture.

He said that they want to have a strong presence in the eastern province as they see a lot of opportunities opening as things are progressing in the correct direction. The North East Provincial Council (NEPC) is keen on developing the leisure industry as there is a lot of potential with the beautiful clean beaches, different cuisine that can attract foreign visitors.

Tillekeratne said that there are rows of gold shops in Kalmunai. Therefore, there is lucrative business while the inward remittance business is also high in the east as most people have gone in search of greener pastures.

Since the needs of customers are different we provide individual solutions tailor-made to their requests as we don’t believe in introducing a product and thrusting it on the customer who may not want it. As a bank we will stand by our customers and support them in all their endeavours so that they can achieve a better standard of living.

He said that as the government is keen to develop the province they will pump the funds to develop the infrastructure in the region and this will pave the way for private investors to invest on their projects without delay.

Tillekeratne was optimistic that the Eastern province will surpass the Western province in income generation due to their eagerness to develop it if coupled with funds promised by donors and the Government flow into the province.

He said that prior to the war 50 per cent of the paddy was supplied by the eastern province. When the province gets back to the old times the country will be prosperous.

Youngsters coming for interviews from the eastern province have much courage and will power and in addition to their educational qualifications they have followed at least one other course, a trend which cannot be seen in Colombo. He said they are not shy to say that they were living in poverty during the past two decades.

SG