Amãna Bank OrphanCare wins IRBA Social Responsible Bank of the Year

Amãna Bank Vice President Retail Banking & Marketing Siddeeque Akbar receiving the award from Professor Humayon Dar of Cambridge International Financial Advisory 

Amãna Bank was recently adjudged the IRBA Social Responsible Bank of the Year 2019 in recognition of the bank’s flagship CSR venture Amãna Bank OrphanCare. 

The IRB Awards, which is held in Muscat, Oman, is a platform which recognises the performances and projects of non-interest-based financial institutions from all across the globe.  

Amãna Bank OrphanCare was launched earlier this year with the aim of addressing a very important yet mostly unattended need of orphan children, which is to secure the fate of orphans once they reach the age of 18 and are compelled to leave institutional care. Through OrphanCare, the bank is accumulating deposits to accounts of enrolled orphan children, who will be able to access such funds when they reach the age of 18.

With over 14,000 registered orphans in the country, Amãna Bank’s OrphanCare, which was established as an independent trust with all operational expenditure of the trust borne by Amãna Bank, has to date enrolled over 2,500 orphans to the program representing 75 orphanages with the objective of reaching out to all orphans in the country.

Collecting the award on behalf of the bank, Retail Banking and Marketing Vice President Siddeeque Akbar said: “We are truly honoured to have our OrphanCare initiative being recognised on an international platform, which testifies to the global appeal OrphanCare has achieved in a short period since launch.”

Also commenting on the accolade, OrphanCare Trust Chairman Ruzly Hussain said: “It is indeed a privilege for an international body to recognise our efforts in helping orphan children get back on their feet once they turn 18. Further, this accolade also recognises our uniqueness, where we have pledged that every rupee donated to the OrphanCare Trust will be directly allocated for orphan accounts, as Amãna Bank is generously bearing all operating and administrative costs of the trust.” 

The OrphanCare Trust is administered by a team of trustees who have a track record of passionate social service, which include Chairman of the Trust Ruzly Hussain - founder of the Roteract movement in Sri Lanka; Osman Kassim – Chairman, Amãna Bank; K.R. Ravindran - former Rotary International President; Treasurer Rohan Tudawe – Chairman Tudawe Brothers; Sharad Amalean - Co-founder MAS Holdings; Tyeab Akbarally - Senior Director, Akbar Brothers; Harsha Amarasekera - President’s Counsel and Chairman, CIC Holdings; Jazri Magdon Ismail – President, AAT and Mohamed Azmeer – CEO, Amãna Bank.  The trustees have instituted a strong governance framework to maintain the highest standards of integrity and ensure the long-term sustainability of the trust.  Those interested in supporting the Amãna Bank OrphanCare initiative can reach out to OrphanCare Head Azad Zaheed by e-mailing [email protected] or calling 0117 756756.