Alliance Group launches Alliance Space

The Alliance Group, a public quoted company with over half-a-century in the Financial Services sector, launched Alliance Space, a one stop Lifestyle Store catering for both home as well as office interiors.

“Space Homeware and Space Officeware will offer the discerning customer a range of high quality products and services, which include all types of furniture and accessories, bathroom ware, tap fittings; in fact, the entire range of products required when setting up your home or office”, said Deputy Chairman & Joint Managing Director, Alliance Group Romani de Silva, speaking at the press briefing held in connection with the launch of Alliance Space Homeware.

Chairman, Alliance Group, Pratapkumar de Silva, said that, in their half-a-century of operation, they had served over three generations of customers, who had placed their trust in the Alliance Group. This unique range of products and services, he said, is also backed by the reliable business experience of five decades.

Romani de Silva said that the brand new Alliance Space Homeware showroom at 63, D.S. Senanayake Mawatha, Colombo 8, stocked world renowned Brands, which included Index furniture from Thailand, Kalevit sanitaryware from Turkey and Ottone Meloda designer tap fittings from Italy.

Kalevit, a 50-year-old company, is the second largest producer of ceramic ware to the world and their products come with a 25-year warranty. Also, Kalevit being the manufacturer for the world renowned brand “ROCA” is now producing an excellent range of bathroom ware under the brand name “ROCA-KALE”, which will be sold through this showroom and also through select distributors.

The wide range of furniture available is from Index, Thailand, who are also suppliers of furniture to Ikea. Index produces a very wide range of high quality restaurant and cafe furniture, and Alliance Space takes pride in distributing this range to all the leading restaurants in Sri Lanka. Index has also gained recognition as one of the leading global suppliers of restaurant furniture to Mc Donalds.

Ottone Meloda, a-state-of-the-art ISO 9001 Italian company, who have won 12 international quality awards as testimony to the quality of their products, and being in operation for over 50 years, were the world’s first company to manufacture aluminum taps and currently export to over 60 countries. Ottone Meloda offers 10-year warranty for all its products. One of the most remarkable features of Ottone Meloda tap fittings is that, 80% of it’s range, works exceptionally well on low pressure, which suits the Sri Lankan market very well. Also, another notable feature is that, all Ottone Meloda taps are subjected to a special “clean lead” process. In other words, it’s Lead free with no health hazards. Ottone Meloda offers European quality and durability at very competitive Asian prices.

“These world-renowned brand names incorporating a vast selection of models from designer high end to mid level value are now on offer at Space Homeware, promoted under the tag line of ‘Creative Homes for Better Living’, where our customers can mix and match their requirements to suit their individual homes and lifestyles”, said Romani de Silva.

She went on to say that customers had the added advantage of being able to avail themselves of Space financial services provided through Alliance Finance. A wide variety of Easy Payment schemes are available for all purchases, where payments coul be made over a period of 24 months. Corporate customers could also pay for complete turnkey interior projects in monthly instalments, without burdening their cash flows.

Assistant General Manager, Alliance Space Homeware, Raveen Kulendra, elaborating on the Space logo, said it symbolised creativity and makes maximum use of available space. “It turns around any particular space and creates a whole new ambience. It also involves adopting our concepts in using our designer products as well as easy payment schemes, to create an interior that suits each and every individual customer and that is the concept of Space Homeware”.

Kulendra said that, the three brands currently marketed by them would definitely set high standards in interior design in Sri Lanka. “The brands Roca-Kale, Index and Ottone Meloda are suited not only to individual customers but also high-end designers and architects, for their condominiums, hotels, restaurants and bungalows, especially those who work for high end clients”. In addition to the high end range, these three brands offer a wide range of products at highly affordable prices suited to the average income earner in the urban as well as the rural areas. He added that, Alliance Space one stop lifestyle store concept made it doubly convenient for customers, as furniture, carpets, paintings and other decorative items, as well as the entire range of bathroom ware – wash basins, taps and fittings, tiles, showers, lighting, electric water heaters, mirrors, accessories, in short, everything that goes into making a house a home is available under one roof. Through this novel concept Alliance Space Homeware offers customers a complete fully equipped bathroom comprising of sanitaryware, tap-ware and tiles on Easy Payment terms. The showroom has many different models of complete designer bathrooms on display to suite different budgets ranging from Rs. 118,000 up to Rs. 330,000. This is the first time in Sri Lanka that a customer can buy a complete bathroom on 24 instalments. As most home builders experience cash flow difficulties towards the end of the construction period of the house, it is believed that, this unique scheme will offer great value to home builders in Sri Lanka, enabling them to go in for the design of their original choice, without compromising on the quality, due to cash flow restrictions. “We could also handle work such as lighting, cabling, partitioning, etc. through our Associate Company, Alliance Business Solutions”, said Kulendra. Our furniture and accessories have also been utilised for mock up apartments by condominium projects such as Ayu, Hedges Court and Green Path Residencies.

Yet another service offered by Alliance Space Homeware is that, any customer with purchases in excess of Rs. 250,000, could make use of the Space interior advisors, who would offer them advice on how best to decorate and furnish their homes, entirely free of charge. For this purpose, Alliance Space has two full time Interior Designers, as well as working relationships with some of the leading Interior Designers in Colombo.

“In addition we also have a dealer network of about 40 retailers islandwide handling Ottone Meloda tap fittings and Roca-Kale sanitary ware,” added Raveen.

Romani de Silva said that, they would soon be introducing the re-branded Alliance Space Officeware range at yet another showroom, which would include high end, durable ‘Artak Design’ and ‘Bluepower’ branded furniture, with Space Officeware too, offering turnkey interior design solutions and corporate easy payment schemes for large turnkey projects.
Backed by the stamp of quality and solid values that the Alliance Group is renowned for, Alliance Space Homeware and Officeware promises a new dimension to both home and office interiors.

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Com Bank opens 167th branch in Puttalam

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has opened a branch in Puttalam, in a spacious building with ample parking facilities at No.116/A, Kurunegala Road, Puttalam, thereby extending its services to this important district in the North-Western Province.

This Branch will serve a large number of surrounding towns and villages such as Palavi, Norochcholai, Kalpitiya, Anamaduwa, Vanathavilluwa and Madurankuliya in addition to serving the business and personal customers of Puttalam. This branch will also be a boon to the large number of the residents from this area who are employed abroad, making it very convenient for their dependants in Sri Lanka to receive monies remitted under the Bank’s e-Exchange Funds Transfer System, the Bank said.

The new branch is linked to all other Commercial Bank branches and the Supermarket Banking Counters islandwide permitting online real-time banking. It is also equipped with an ATM linked to 320 ATMs of Commercial Bank, over 1,000 other ATMs locally and over one million ATMs belonging to the Cirrus and Visa networks worldwide.

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NSB introduces ‘happiest’ way to save

“Happy Savings” - is the newest savings product of The National Savings Bank. It offers clients a “Happy” interest for savings up to 14.5%, free Life cover upto Rs. one million to keep you Happiest, and a government guarantee on all your deposits and interest by the only AAA + Fitch rated Sri Lankan bank.

Any Sri Lankan citizen over 18 years of age may open a Happy Savings account.
The launch was held at NSB Moratuwa Branch under the patronage of Chairman NSB Upali Gunarathne. Two executive Directors of NSB, Mr. W. H. Piyadasa and Sumanadasa Abegunawardana were also present. Sunil Perera CEO and the General Manager of NSB, Jagath Gamanayake, AGM (Marketing) and the Chairman NSB addressed the gathering.
First deposit collection was over 25 Million.

National Savings Bank marked 36 years of operations in Sri Lanka in 2008. While the Bank has a history that goes back to 1832, its modern history commenced in 1972 when the National Savings Bank was formed through an Act of Parliament amalgamating the four institutions that were in existence at the time: Ceylon Savings Bank; the Ceylon Post Office Savings Bank; the National Savings Movement; and the Savings Certificates Section.

The principal activity of the National Savings Bank continues to be the promotion of savings among the people of Sri Lanka, and the profitable investment of savings so mobilised.

A few years ago NSB began transforming itself from a State owned entity into a modern retail bank that provides tailor made solutions for its diverse customer base. This process of transformation is well underway, and today the Bank touches the lives of 15.6 million account holders through a variety of modern financial solutions using state-of-the-art technology.

The Bank has set ambitious goals as it evolves into a modern retail bank that is customer focussed, IT savvy and futuristic. Its 4,542 access points, including 131 branches, over 634 post offices and 3,408 sub-post offices, 120 ATMs, 15.6 million account holders and the prestigious AAA (lka) ratings place the Bank in a unique position among Sri Lankan banks to realise these ambitious goals.

While striving to deliver a strong financial performance, NSB is conscious of its social responsibility towards the diverse client base. The goal of the National Savings Bank is not just to build financial wealth, but also to generate social wealth for its client base and for the country in general.

Within this broader goal NSB will continue to pursue two specific objectives: encourage the ‘savings habit’ among all Sri Lankans, and promote the housing rights of Sri Lankans, especially the most disadvantaged. To meet the policy directive of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Bank granted a sum of Rs. 6.5 billion to public servants as housing loans.

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Singer Finance opens fifth branch in Matara

Singer Finance (Lanka) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, opened its fifth branch in Matara on July 23, 2008, at No. 86, 1st Floor, New Tangalle Road, Kotuwegoda, Matara.

Incorporated in April 2004 as a public company, their existing branches are in Kandy, Wattala, Kurunegala and Wennapuwa. Their services range from leasing and hire purchase to institutional consumer products and business loans.

The company offers very attractive interest rates for their tailor made investment schemes with absolute security to its clients. Competitive Rates are offered to potential customers for their leasing and hire purchase facilities for a period of 5 years. What makes these facilities undeniably the most tempting, is that all the payments on these financial needs can be made via the large network of Singer (Sri Lanka) shops, island wide.

Singer Finance (Lanka) Ltd. was formed as a strategic venture for its parent company Singer (Sri Lanka), as a means to provide service to its customers to be able to buy goods on hire purchase, thereby making this the most prominent facility that Singer Finance offers.

Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd. was awarded an AA+ by Brand Finance Lanka, an independent intangible asset valuation and brand strategy firm, this year which further reinstates confidence to all its customers. Also, Singer Finance (Lanka) Ltd. was given a BBB rating by the world renowned Fitch Ratings which demonstrates the capabilities of this very young company. With soaring confidence levels and the growing needs of consumers, they found the need to open a branch in Matara this year.

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Maldives the latest addition to Ceylinco FastCash Network

Ceylinco FastCash, the international money transfer service, added the Maldives as the latest corridor to its network of countries.
The service, initially launched in October 2006, linking Sri Lanka, Singapore and the UAE has expanded to 16 Countries within in a short period of one and a half years.

The ability to effect cross border transactions within the network is also a unique factor which has given Ceylinco FastCash an edge.

The Main Agent for Ceylinco FastCash in the Maldives is Universal Travel Services Ltd one of the largest groups of companies in the Maldives.

The Ceylinco FastCash Remittance centre in Male was ceremonially opened by Deshamanya Dr. Lalith Kotelawala Chairman Ceylinco Consolidated and Mohammed Umar Maniku Chairman Universal Group Maldives.

The new service will offer the large number of Sri Lankans, Bangladeshi’s and the Nepali’s working in the Maldives the opportunity to send money to their homeland fast, at a reasonable price and with a host of added benefits.

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Allianz Lanka Life Business at Glennie Street

Allianz Lanka inaugurated Life Insurance business in Sri Lanka with the opening of the Life Business premises at its Colombo office. Based in Glennie Street, the Allianz Life Business division is equipped with all facilities to commence Life operations very shortly, and plans to introduce many new, innovative and personlised Life Insurance products that meet local needs. Allianz Lanka’s General Business division is also based at the same location.

German conglomerate Allianz SE’s application for local subsidiary Allianz Life Insurance Lanka to commence Life Insurance in Sri Lanka, was approved by Insurance Regulator IBSL (Insurance Board of Sri Lanka) from July 1 this year. This application conforms to proposed IBSL regulations that support the setting up of separate corporate entities to manage Life and General Business. At present, all Insurance companies in Sri Lanka that carry out Life and General Business, operate under a single entity.
The local subsidiary is backed by the global strength of Allianz SE, one of the world’ largest Financial Services providers with experience since 1890, in providing innovative Financial Services to over 80 million customers worldwide. The Allianz Group has over US $ 1 Trillion assets under management and ranks 19th among Fortune 500’s top global corporates, over half of whom insure with Allianz.

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Shirley Perera appointed Chairman of IFL

Effective September 1st, 2008, Shirley Perera will be assuming duties as the Chairman of Industrial Finance Limited, the most recent acquisition by the Aspic Group of companies.

Perera started his career with Aspic Corporation as the Managing Director/CEO of Central Investments & Finance Limited (CIFL) in 2004 and since then was serving as the Deputy Chairman of CIFL. He counts over 42 years of experience, of which, 22 years are in banking and 20 years in finance. Shirley Perera was the Senior Manager International Division, People’s Bank and was the Managing Director/CEO of L B finance Limited and Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka Ltd. He is also the Chairman of the Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka for the second successive year and was the District Governor of the District 306A-1 of the International Association of Lions Clubs.

Perera, a graduate in Public Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, has a post graduate diploma in Bank Management, the highest professional qualification available to bankers in Sri Lanka. He had also undergone training in AOTS, Osaka, Japan on Financial Management. He has been awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Merit Award for three consecutive years by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries in Sri Lanka ( FCCISL)

Industrial Finance Limited established in 1962 and acquired by Aspic Group of Companies in February 2008, is a registered Finance Company approved by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. IFL is now ready to embark on greater prospects in the financial sector in the country focusing on leasing, hire purchase, short-term loans, micro financing, Real Estate and fixed deposits. With his vast experience, and contacts in the Financial Services sector, Perera hopes to drive the IFL to greater heights.

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DFCC accomplishes objectives, faces future challenges confidently

The DFCC Bank was formed by an Act of Parliament way back in 1955. Today it occupies the lofty position of being the leading development bank in the country, finely tuned to offer a high quality service to its wide and varied customer base. Specialising in offering project finance for many development projects from Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) sectors to large-scale infrastructure projects, DFCC Bank also offers permanent working capital loans.

While providing the full gamut of project related finance to its varied customers, the DFCC Bank also identified gaps in its product offerings. Having taken the initial project risk in start up ventures, the bank could not offer additional services such as a current accounts, overdrafts, LC facilities etc. to its customers due to restrictions in its licence. In order to address this issue, the DFCC Bank acquired MERC Bank in August of 2003 and renamed it as DFCC Vardhana Bank ( DVB ) in October of the same year.

The DFCC Vardhana Bank, has fulfilled the bank’s perpetual quest to provide its customers with superior financial services. Customers can now access DFCC Vardhana Bank services from 34 branches around the country. DFCC Bank operates twin branches in 13 of them, resulting in the coining of the term ‘two banks in one’ thereby paving the way for a more customer conducive concept in banking.

Plans are afoot to expand the branch network with the addition of Kegalle and Galle by end 2008, with Hambantota and Trincomalee identified in the crosshairs of the DFCC vision. The addition of these two will add a further boost to its network of branches.

The Vice President (Branch Banking) of DFCC Mr. Ananda Kumaradasa reiterated that apart from the high quality service available through their skilled staff, convenient services were now available to the customers to operate both their corporate and personal accounts simultaneously.

With the government policy to promote investment beyond the boundaries of the western province in order to bridge the urban-rural divide, many new credit lines in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) category have emerged.

1979 saw the emergence of the 1st ever credit line ‘SME-1’ which was followed closely by several other credit lines. It is interesting to note that DFCC utilised a significant proportion of the funds that were offered through these credit lines, and of these funds, a considerable amount was utilised for development of projects in the regions. Year 2008 witnessed the emergence of a US$50 million credit line from the Asian Development Bank under the “Small & Medium Enterprises Regional Development Project” (SMERDP) with the sole objective being to promote and nurture Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) in regions outside the Western Province. With a highly skilled staff possessing a wealth of experience, DFCC Bank, is in a commanding position to effectively identify, apprise and disburse up to US$ 15 million (approximately Rs.1.6 Billion) to potential and deserving SME’s thereby providing a much needed boost to the regional economy of the country.

DFCC Bank has always been associated with a stream of innovative financial assistance schemes underpinning its reputation as the leader in financing development projects. In keeping with its mission, “ to provide superior financial solutions and nurture business enterprises, adding value to our customers, shareholders, employees and the nation.” it is crystal clear that DFCC has already surpassed all expectations, and is well on its way to redefining more innovative, new and challenging missions in the years ahead.

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