Commercial Bank to reward top performers at Year 5 Scholarship exam

Wednesday, 23 July 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has once again pledged to help students who excel at the Year 5 scholarship examination to secure a better future by presenting them with cash prizes totalling millions of rupees under the bank’s ‘Arunalu’ Children’s Savings Account. In order to instil in students the value of a good education, the Arunalu Account of Commercial Bank has taken steps to assist students as they continue their studies. Students placed first, second and third island-wide at the 2014 examination to be held in August will be rewarded with up to Rs. 382,500 if they are holders of ‘Arunalu’ Children’s Savings Accounts.

Under the revised Arunalu scheme announced by the bank in 2013, an account holder who is placed first in the island at the Year 5 scholarship examination will be eligible to receive up to Rs. 170,000 in monthly instalments of Rs. 2,000 each, until he or she turns 18 years of age. The students placed second and third in the island will receive up to Rs. 127,500 and Rs. 85,000 respectively in monthly instalments of Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 1,000, until the age of 18 years, if they are Arunalu account holders. Additionally, ‘Arunalu’ account holders who are placed first, second and third in their respective schools will receive cash prizes of Rs. 10,000, Rs. 7,500 and Rs. 5,000 each, in a continuation of the previous rewards scheme operated by Sri Lanka’s largest private bank, while all district winners will also receive up to Rs. 50,000 if they are Arunalu account holders, the bank said. In 2013, Commercial Bank’s Arunalu Children’s Savings Account paid Rs. 3.7 million in cash rewards to 575 students placed first, second and third in their respective schools at the Year 5 scholarship examination. This was in addition to the cash rewards paid to nine students who were placed first, second and third in the island at the examination. “While encouraging the savings habit among students at an early age, the Bank has understood the importance of rewarding students for their academic achievements and motivating them,” said Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager – Marketing Hasrath Munasinghe. “We have seen thousands of students reap the benefits of the Arunalu rewards scheme, and have inspired them to continue excelling academically.” A minimum balance of Rs. 5,000 should be maintained in the Arunalu account by the date of the Scholarship examination in order to receive the cash rewards, the bank said. An Arunalu children’s savings account can be opened at any of Commercial Bank’s branches island-wide with a minimum sum of Rs. 100, and offers the highest interest rate of eight per cent. Launched in 1991, Arunalu has been Commercial Bank’s key savings account which caters to children of the school going age. In 1998 Commercial Bank was the first bank to introduce the year 5 Scholarship examination cash prize scheme with the intention of strengthening its enduring commitment to excellence in education. Commercial Bank operates a network of 237 branches and 597 ATMs in Sri Lanka. Ranked the most valuable private sector brand in the country in 2014, the bank has won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank over several years, and was adjudged one of the country’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013.