The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has stepped up efforts to encourage Sri Lankans living overseas to invest in Sri Lanka with the support of the country’s benchmark private bank.

The Bank has launched a series of e-forums designed to create awareness about local investment opportunities available to Sri Lankans living or working in other countries and on the numerous special products and services offered by the Bank to facilitate an inflow of foreign currency into the country. The forums are also a platform to share some insights with the expat community on the economic conditions created in the country by the Covid pandemic.

The Bank has already concluded two such virtual events that benefitted members of the Sri Lankan expat community, workers, and professionals living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. Two more are planned to be held for this segment in Oman and Qatar shortly, the Banks said.

Conducted by the Bank’s Senior Deputy General Manager – Treasury Prins Perera, these e-forums take place with the involvement of the Bank’s overseas remittance partners, staff of Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, the Bank’s overseas Business Promotion Officers, and members of its corporate management.

Besides providing a comprehensive picture of the Sri Lankan economy supported by statistics, these virtual forums are conducted to encourage foreign direct investments into Sri Lanka and to maintain the Bank’s relationship with all its stakeholders, the Bank said.

Participants are informed of the high-yield investment opportunities available in Sri Lanka and the special benefits that Commercial Bank provides to its investors and customers. They are also briefed on the Bank’s Special Deposit Accounts (SDAs) and other remittance accounts. Sri Lankan expatriate workers and potential investors are provided valuable insights into the Sri Lankan economy via these forums and learn about the products and services that enable them to invest money in foreign currency accounts and fixed deposits.

Commenting on the launch of the e-forums, Commercial Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr S. Renganathan said: “These virtual events were organised to enable us to directly connect with our partners and the Sri Lankan professional communities overseas at a time when Sri Lankan banks are vigorously attempting to bring in foreign currency to help mitigate the challenges currently facing the economy. As Sri Lanka’s largest private bank, we have earned the trust and confidence of the populace and are well positioned to play a significant role in this effort.”

The Bank provides all necessary facilities for expatriate investors who are interested to invest in Sri Lankan businesses by facilitating opening of Inward Investment Accounts, Offshore Accounts and providing all the support services associated with these accounts.

Commercial Bank also briefs participants on the personal finance products and services it offers to help them maximise returns on the foreign currency they earn. These include the Remittance Account which can be accessed through a RemitPlus Debit Card which is issued free-of-charge at the time of opening of the account. Sri Lankan citizens aged 18 years or above, who are beneficiaries or remitters of overseas remittances are eligible to open a Remittance Account without an initial deposit and existing accountholders who have received three or more remittances in the past six months can convert their existing accounts to RemitPlus Savings Accounts. This account helps meet emergency cash requirements of accountholders by way of a specially-designed cash advance facility of up to Rs 50,000.

Additionally, those who receive direct remittances via Commercial Bank receive Rs 2 over the prevailing rate of exchange on the conversion of every United States Dollar or the equivalent in the currency they receive.

Remitters and beneficiaries can also use the ComBank RemitPlus App to share the remittance PIN number securely between themselves and can track their remittance through the app’s Remittance Tracker option. In addition these features, the ComBank RemitPlus App can be used to find the Bank’s remittance-related information and services such as details of specially trained Business Promotion Officers stationed in Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Korea and Qatar as well as details of Sri Lankan diplomatic missions overseas and the Bank’s overseas remittance partners.

Sri Lanka’s first fully carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 11 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 268 branches and 931 automated machines in Sri Lanka. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.