BoC to handle Lake House ads

The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (ANCL) and the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) opened another chapter in their deals by entering into an agreement with regard to classified and word-based advertisements which will become operative from October 5. The agreement was signed at the BoC Head Office in Colombo yesterday.

ANCL Chairman Bandula Padmakumara and BoC Chairman Dr. Gamini Wickramasinghe exchange the signed agreement. Picture by Sarath Weerasinghe

ANCL General Manager Abhaya Amaradasa said that with the implementation of this customer centric agreement customers will get a quality service more conveniently and confidently through the Bank of Ceylon branches.

This will be initially implemented through eighty BoC branches in the Western Province and customers can take their classified advertisements directly to any BoC branch in the province.

A seminar will be held for representatives of all BoC branches in the province.

He said that the strong relationship for decades between ANCL and the BoC as its main banker and the two top players can go a long way in expanding this facility to other parts of the country providing a high quality service to its customers. Classified advertisements were received by newspaper agents as at present will continue to do so, he said.

Senior Deputy General Manager BoC W. A. Nalani said that there are 310 customer points and 174 customer service points with 313 ATMs islandwide and this new customer-oriented service will be extended to all those service points in the future.

Manager, ANCL (Classified) K. W. Upali said that this system is only applicable to classified advertisements which will include marriage proposals, death notices etc. in the Silumina, Dinamina, Daily News, Sunday Observer, Thinakaran and Vara Manjari initially.Company Secretary, Kumudu Gunawardena and General Manager Abhaya Amaradasa signed the agreement on behalf of ANCL and Senior Deputy General Manager W. A. Nalani and Deputy General Manager I. D. Weerasena were the signatories for the BoC.

General Manager, BoC B. A. C. Fernando, AGM (Province Sales), Susila Fernando, AGM (Corporate Relations), D. M. Gunasekera and Director, Finance of ANCL Shan Shanmuganathan were also present.