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The Commercial Bank of Ceylon, the largest lender to SMEs in the country in 2012, has opened its 12th Agriculture and Micro Finance Unit (AMFU) in Tissamaharama and conducted two programs for entrepreneurs in Galle and Matara, in a further demonstration of support to business development in the south of Sri Lanka.
The programmes organised by the bank in collaboration with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on ‘Financial literacy and entrepreneurship development’ were attended by more than 200 entrepreneurs, the bank said.
The bank has conducted programs for SMEs and micro entrepreneurs in areas such as Moneragala, Wellawaya, Badulla, Passara, Bandarawela, Welimada, Weligama, Koggala and Karapitiya in the recent past.
The bank’s Agriculture and Micro Finance units located in Ratnapura, Narammala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Bandarawela, Wellawaya, Hingurakgoda, Galewela, Atchuvely and Vavuniya help it to identify people who need financial assistance to start new businesses or expand existing ones, provide guidance on how to improve their businesses and help resolve difficulties.
“Commercial Bank has been supporting the SMEs of the country over several decades. The bank has recently stepped up these efforts further as the global focus at present is on developing the SME sector,” said Chandana Gunasekera, Assistant General Manager, Personal Banking/SME.
“Experts are of the view that the SME sector is the main driving force of an economy. In Sri Lanka the contribution of SMEs to the economy is close to 80% of the GDP,” Gunasekera said.
The bank offers development loan schemes tailor made to the requirements of SMEs. These loan schemes are designed with attractive interest rates and flexible repayment periods.
Experienced personnel of the bank provide advisory services to borrowers in areas such as business development strategies, problem solving in business, and improving efficiency in business using new technologies.
Commercial Bank also collaborates with a large number of organisations which are specialised and engaged in offering services relating to business development, to which the bank’s borrowers are referred for advice on technical issues relating to their businesses.
The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 Banks for three successive years, Commercial Bank operates a network of 235 computer-linked service points and the country’s single largest ATM network of 585 terminals. The bank has been adjudged ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for 15 consecutive years by ‘Global Finance’ Magazine and has won multiple awards as the country’s best bank from ‘The Banker’, ‘Finance Asia’, ‘Euromoney’ and ‘Trade Finance’ magazines.
