The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has opened its 14th Agriculture & Micro Finance Unit (AMFU) at Neluwa in the Galle District to facilitate the Bank’s efforts to support micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in the area including commercial scale agriculture entrepreneurs.

The opening coincided with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Bank’s Neluwa branch, to which the new AMFU is affiliated.

The Unit will work closely with the Commercial Bank branches at Neluwa, Udugama and Matugama to help business build capacity, expand operations, acquire new equipment and adopt new technology, the Bank said. The agricultural activities in the regions covered encompass tea plantations and smallholdings, rubber plantations, paddy, cinnamon and pepper cultivation and the manufacture of cinnamon products.

Commercial Bank’s Agriculture & Micro Finance Units play a key role in helping the Bank identify specific needs of people who require assistance to develop either their agriculture activities or small businesses, and are dedicated to promoting agriculture lending and micro finance and resolving difficulties. These units also conduct programmes to enhance domain knowledge and financial literacy among entrepreneurs in the target segments.

Commercial Bank’s other Agriculture & Micro Finance Units are located in Ratnapura, Narammala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Bandarawela, Monaragala, Hingurakgoda, Galewela, Atchuvely, Vavuniya, Kattankudy and Tissamaharama.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for five consecutive years, Commercial Bank operates a network of 250 branches and 625 ATMs in Sri Lanka, the largest electronic cash dispensing facility owned by a single bank in the country. The Bank was ranked the most valuable private sector brand in Sri Lanka in 2014 and has also won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank from a number of international publications over several years. The Bank was adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and 2014.

Photo caption : Pictured here is the ceremonial presentation of the keys to a vehicle financed by the new Commercial Bank AMFU at Neluwa by the Bank’s Assistant General Manager – Personal Banking III & SME Mr Delakshan Hettiarachchi, in the presence of officials of the Bank.