In brief

Laila Vice President Grant Group

Chief Operating Officer of Grant McCann Erickson, Laila Gunesekere-Martenstyn, has been appointed as the Vice President for the whole Grant Group, said Mrs. Neela Marikkar, Chairperson of Grant Group. The Grant Group of Companies include Grant McCann Erickson, Response Marketing, GPR Communications Consultancy, Juice Productions and Minds Advertising.

The handing over of the first financing facility for the SME sector at the branch opening in Batticaloa. S Wajeek a farmer from Batticaloa accepts the facility for a combined harvester from Raj Aboobucker, Vice President Head of Emerging Corporates and Specialised Commercial Markets NDB Bank.

NDB Bank assists entrepreneurs

NDB Bank has invested in new branches in the Northern and Eastern regions of the country, to provide a much needed access to finance for both small and medium enterprises.

The Bank’s unique capabilities in SME financing and infrastructure development will also be available, encouraging an entrepreneurial culture in Sri Lanka.

Double awards

Access Engineering Limited, won two awards at the National Business Excellence Awards 2009 held recently, conducted by the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Receiving the award for the Runner-up in the Construction Sector Dharshana Munasinghe, Director Business Development said ‘We are pleased to be recognized for our performance for the Financial Year 2008/09 where we had a very successful year. Our dedicated work force continue to strive for excellence in their areas of work.

Request to reduce interest rates on credit cards

The Central Bank has observed with concern that interest rates charged by licensed banks on credit cards have remained unchanged in the range of 33 per cent to 48 per cent since December 2008.

It is however noted that currently there is adequate leeway for the banks to reduce such interest rates on credit cards since the interest rates structure has moved down due to the relaxation of the monetary policy.

Accordingly, banks have been requested to reduce the interest rates levied on credit cards to at least a level between 24 per cent and 36 per cent.

HDFC Bank at Hyde-Park Corner

The newest branch of HDFC Bank was opened at Hyde-park Corner Colombo recently. The Chairman of HDFC Bank S. M. M. Yaseen handing over a certificate to the first customer at the opening ceremony while HDFC Bank's CEO/GM Suresh Amerasekara looks on.

Light to Life

The Light to Life Project that aims to build a vocational training institute in Kilinochchi for youth affected by war, launched a spectacular Christmas tree with 4000 bulbs.

The tree is located at the Crescat Lobby in Colombo.

This is symbolic of the cyber tree on the website www.lighttolife.lk

Here Nathan Sivagananathan, Director-MAS Intimates switches- on a layer of lights for Rs. 1,000,000.00 to confirm the pledged from the Company.

This is a project of Rotary 3220 Sri Lanka partnered by UNOPS, JWT and Mindshare Colombo.