HNB partners 85th Battle of the Saints

March, 4, 2019

HNB, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector Bank will power the 85th Battle of the Saints annual cricket encounter between St Joseph’s College and St Peter’s College, as the platinum sponsor. Schoolboys and ‘old boys’ will descend on the grounds of P. Saravanamuttu Stadium -oval grounds, on the 1st and 2nd of March to watch the boys from Colombo’s two leading catholic schools display an exciting game of cricket.

The sponsorship cheque was handed over to the two Principals, Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin, Rector of St. Peter’s College and Rev. Fr. Travis Gabrial, Rector of St. Joseph’s College, by Managing Director and Chief Executive of HNB, Jonathan Alles.

Expressing his thoughts on the partnership with the Joe-Pete big match, HNB’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Alles said, “The Bank is delighted to extend this sponsorship to one of the most anticipated sporting events in the annual cricket season and supports the values of great sportsmanship, tradition and pageantry which is so much a part of this fixture and undoubtedly is etched in every student’s and old boy’s minds.”

The Josephians will be led by Sri Lanka youth player and off spin bowler, Ashain Daniel, while the boys from Bambalapitiya will be under the captaincy of all-rounder, Ranmith Jayasena. In the past 84 encounters between these two prestigious schools, St Joseph’s have won the trophy 12 times while St. Peter’s have bagged the trophy 10 times.

HNB’s relationship with both the schools - St. Peters’ and St Josephs’ stretches back in time to when they opened one of their first Student Savings Units at St. Peters’ two decades ago. Since then, successive generations of students in both schools have benefitted from their HNB accounts, not only in establishing the savings habit from a young age but also for higher and tertiary education - laying the foundations for a stable and secure future.

The Bank has also deepened its engagement with both schools, with a particular focus on introducing new technology-enabled banking services to students and staff in order to help prepare them for the life in an increasingly technologically oriented world. HNB’s suite of electronic banking solutions include Payee Partnership and easy-to-use POS devices that hassle free collections together with HNB PAYFAST – a convenient and reliable platform for payment of salaries, EPF, ETF and any other additional payments as needed.

Additionally, HNB has also provided other special facilities to cover the entire school community including teachers, students, and related parties as their preferred banking partner.

Operating across 251 customer centres across the country, HNB stands as Sri Lanka's leading bank, having been recognized by several renowned international and local institutions for excellence in diverse fields. In 2018 HNB was recognized by the prestigious ‘Asian Banker Magazine' as the ‘Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka' for the tenth time.

Photo caption: Jonathan Alles, MD/CEO of HNB, flanked by the Principals of St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s Colleges, the Captains of the Josephian and Peterite cricket teams, organising committee plus senior management of HNB