CB Chief opens Chilaw Finance branch office in Kuliyapitiya

The first branch office of Chilaw Finance Ltd. was declared open by Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal in Kuliyapitiya recently.

The 30-year-old Chilaw based company is registered with the Central Bank as a non-banking financial institution providing hire purchase, finance leasing, mortgage and pawning loan facilities at competitive rates to the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) and the general public in the Wayamba Province.

Chilaw Finance is also the first and only finance company to be born in Chilaw. The company is well known for maintaining healthy capital adequacy ratios above prevailing industry averages.

Speaking at the branch opening ceremony at Kuliyapitiya, the Governor of the Central Bank said: “Economic development should not be restricted to few areas but all provinces in the country should be simultaneously developed. It took 56 years to increase the per capita income of this country to US$ 1,000. However, the ‘Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma’ has determined to increase the figure to US$ 4,000 during the next few years. The country’s economy is moving forward with new vigour and power. The Government is providing infrastructure facilities to villages and there is rapid development in every sphere of the economy.”

The Central Bank Governor said that banks and financial institutions must be managed by trained personnel and that they should play their role by providing twice the amount of credit facilities towards economic development, especially at a time when the per capita income is being doubled in this country.

To ensure economic development, the financial system should be broad-based, he noted, adding that he was happy with CFL’s decision to open new branches as it would contribute to the economic development of the area.

Chilaw Finance Managing Director D. S. Weerasooriya said the company was born when 10 home-grown entrepreneurs contributed equally with an initial capital of Rs. 100,000 in 1980. Since then the company’s shareholders fund has reached the staggering Rs. 300 million mark.

“The company’s success lay in its ability to win the hearts and trust of the numerous customers it deals with and during the past years we have managed to estimate customer needs and evaluate their financial discipline accurately,” he said.

Chairman of Chilaw Finance N. M. Gnanalankara said he was happy that the company’s first branch was opened in Kuliyapitiya, a fast-developing area with bountiful, untapped natural resources. The area has vast potential of developing into an industrial hub of the Wayamba Province, he said.

The Chairman thanked the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for granting permission to open the new branch in Kuliyapitiya and every person who assisted in making the event a success.

Kuliyapitiya Urban Council Chairman Lakshaman Adhikari, Additional Director of the Department of Supervision of Non-Banking Financial Institutions, Central Bank of Sri Lanka H. M. Ekanayake and a large gathering were present at the opening ceremony.