August, 27, 2020
Sri Lanka’s most innovative bank, HNB PLC announced the launch of a special insurance scheme on standing orders issued from parents into HNB Singithi and Teen savings accounts.
Working in partnership with HNB Assurance, the bank will now guarantee that in an unfortunate event of a parent’s demise – due to natural or accidental death - HNB will continue monthly standing orders to their children’s accounts between a value of Rs. 1,000-25,000 until the child reaches the age of 18.
“Given the great uncertainty that we are all facing in the wake of the COVID pandemic and the many other disruptions to daily life that it has caused, HNB made a decision that we have to go above and beyond when it comes to safeguarding the interest of our youngest customers while providing parents with peace of mind. Through this unique partnership with HNB Assurance, we are now able to do exactly that.
“Given that there is no additional premium charged and that parents need only set up a standing order above Rs. 1,000 to avail themselves of this facility, we are also providing even greater encouragement to parents to ensure that they establish consistent funding for their children’s savings accounts, in order to provide their young ones with a stable and secure future,” HNB Senior Manager - Deposits, Viranga Gamage stated.
Notably, while the value guaranteed by HNB on standing orders will be capped at Rs. 25,000, the cover limit per parent is set at Rs. 75,000. This means that HNB will also cover multiple standing orders from one parent into multiple Singithi accounts up to the limit per parent.
With its most recent partnership with HNB Assurance, the bank also adds even greater value to what is already Sri Lanka’s single most popular portfolio of minors’ savings accounts – spanning Singithi Kirikatiyo, Singithi Lama and HNB Teen and catering to children at every stage of their growth from birth up to the age of 12, and from adolescence to adulthood.
Throughout, HNB utilises the Singithi and HNB Teen products to teach young Sri Lankans about the savings habit and make them excited to save consistently by linking their habit to consistent and tangible rewards.
In this manner, the bank aims to enhance financial literacy among Sri Lanka’s youth, thereby providing the next generation with one of the most valuable and important gifts they can receive, a sense of responsibility and control over the savings, which in turn will guarantee a strong and stable foundation for a bright and prosperous future.
Singithi Kirikatiyo Account is specially designed for newborn children and can be opened by parents within 3 months from the child’s date of birth. The account offers one of the highest interest rates and will gift a free deposit of Rs. 1,000 at the time of opening from HNB in addition to entitling account holders with special gifts on their birthday relative to the account balance maintained.
On reaching the age of five years each account will be automatically converted to a HNB Singithi account and into a HNB Teen account at the age of 13.
In addition to being eligible to a valuable spectrum of gifts and rewards, all HNB Singithi account holders will also be eligible for HNB’s Diri Daru scholarships with special cash prizes also being offered for students who excel in their Grade 5 Scholarship exams and in Ordinary and Advanced Level exams – both local and London.
Notably, following its last revamp, the HNB Diri Daru scholarship is now the largest of its kind offered by any bank in Sri Lanka for Grade 5 scholarship exams. In the last year, the programme rewarded over 2,500 students together with scholarships at a value of Rs. 20 million together with cash prizes Applications are also open for students sitting for Grade 5 scholarship exams in October 2020.
HNB has long been a pioneer in promoting the savings habit among young Sri Lankans. In addition to operating the most popular and valuable gifts scheme in the country, the bank was also the first to introduce Student Saving Units (SSU). Having since expanded to over 160 SSUs island wide, the bank is responsible for training over 1,000 student managers annually with first-hand experience managing mini- banks inside schools.
With 252 customer centres across the country, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative banks having won local and global recognition for its efforts to drive forward a new paradigm in digital banking. Over the recent past, the bank has continuously won prestigious accolades including being declared Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka by the Asian Banker Magazine, in addition to ranking among the Banker Magazine Global Top 1,000. Locally, HNB leads the Business Today Top 10 rankings and also claimed seven awards at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2019. The first Sri Lankan bank to obtain an international credit rating, HNB was assigned a rating of B1 by Moody’s Investors Service, and a national long term rating of AA+ (lka) by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd.
