The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently hosted Sri Lankans working in Kuwait at two events held in the state in connection with the Bank’s services for expatriate Sri Lankans.
The first of these two events was held at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Kuwait City and was attended by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Kuwait His Excellency Kandeepan Bala and a large number of Sri Lankan expatriates employed in various industries in Kuwait, and the Bank’s business partners. The objective was to introduce the latest products and services of Commercial Bank and to urge them to invest in Sri Lanka.
The second event was organised to felicitate the Sri Lankan support staff employed in exchange houses in Kuwait. The event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Kuwait attracted many Sri Lankans who were entertained by popular actor Wilson Gunaratne of ‘Charitha Hathak’ fame, flown by Commercial Bank to Kuwait for the event.
Commercial Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Mr. S Renganathan and a team of officers attended these events.
Kuwait is a key market for worker remittances with around 150,000 Sri Lankans employed in the state. Commercial Bank works with 13 partner exchange houses to serve this customer segment. The Bank marked 10 years of remittance operations in Kuwait in March 2014. The Bank has also stationed two Business Promotions Officers in Kuwait to assist Sri Lankans living and working there with their banking needs.
Commercial Bank is one of the most active players in Sri Lanka in the field of remittances, offering customers a range of options including ‘e-Exchange’ – the Bank’s own sophisticated real-time on-line money transfer service, as well as the MoneyGram, Ria and Express Money remittance services. Commercial bank has 16 of its officers placed in strategic locations to help the Sri Lankan expatriate community.
One of the Bank’s key strengths is its island-wide network of 250 branches, many of which remain open on public, bank and mercantile holidays, and its network of 626 ATMs, which is the largest automated cash dispensing system owned by a single bank in Sri Lanka. Recipients of remittances sent to the Bank enjoy many benefits such as over 60 holiday banking centres and super market counters, a dedicated customer support call centre for remittances and SMS alerts facilities once the remittance is received and is ready to be paid out.
Photo caption – Commercial Bank Chief Operating Officer Mr S. Renganathan (top left) and the Bank’s Head of Global Markets Mr. Prins Perera (bottom right) present a memento and a certificate respectively to business partners at the events in Kuwait.