Nations Trust Bank opens sixth Nations business centre in Ratnapura

Tuesday, 20 November 2012 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

With the objective of supporting the small and medium enterprises in the country, Nations Trust Bank PLC added another one stop shop for SMEs in Ratnapura with the opening of their sixth Nations business centre recently.

Through the new business center, SME customers of Ratnapura can obtain all the financial services needed for their businesses, including business advisory services to improve their business.

The Nations business centre, located at the bank’s branch premises at 189, Main Street, Ratnapura, offers a range of product and services to business customers which includes working capital finance, long term financing for business expansion and investments, cash management services, trade services for importers and exporters, guarantee facilities, leasing and factoring solutions as well as special services such as the bank at your doorstep service.

All this is packaged in the business banking proposition that offers platinum, gold and silver membership to customers together with a number of privileges including a lucrative rewards scheme.

In its endeavour to become more than a banker to SME customers, Nations Trust has made facilities available for SME customers to obtain business advisory services to improve their business based on the IFC-SME toolkit.

The SME toolkit is an online training resource provided by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and is managed locally by Dialog Axiata and contains a range of useful financial management tools, business management solutions that business customers could access at any given time.

What’s more, the SME toolkit is also available in English, Sinhala and Tamil, making it accessible to customers in all geographies. Customers can access the SME toolkits at the Nations business centres with the assistance of trained staff of the bank 365 days of the year.

Subsequent to the opening of the Nations business centre, a business seminar was conducted for the business community in Ratnapura by Arunasiri Gunarathne, Chief Executive Officer, Business Development Centre, who is also a certified SME toolkit trainer.

Commenting at the opening of the Nations business centre, Sanjaya Perera, Chief Manager Branches and Personal Banking Centres, said, “We are very much focused on partnering and growing the SME segment as we understand their significance in facilitating the growth of the country’s economy. From time to time, we will continue to launch and upgrade our product offerings to cater to their business needs.”

Nations Trust Bank is one of the fastest growing banks in Sri Lanka committed to assisting the SME segment towards growth. The bank’s strategy in the near future is to open a number of Nations business centres across the country and conduct numerous business forums on specific topics that will benefit entrepreneurs in the future.

Nations Trust Bank to date has 56 branches, seven personal banking centres and is the sole issuers and acquirer for American Express cards in Sri Lanka.