The country’s leading provider of integrated financial services, HNB Finance, strengthened its reputation for industry excellence by emerging as the only Sri Lankan firm to secure a Gold Award at the 8th ACEF Asian Leaders Forum and Awards, held on 28th September in Mumbai, India.
HNB Finance was presented the accolade in the ‘Best Rural Activation for Brand Awareness’ category for the successful implementation of its ‘Silent Man Challenge’.
The campaign effectively utilised a pantomime actor to stoke interest over a special package of leasing and loan facilities among the people of Kurunegala during three days in February.
HNB Finance launched the ‘Silent Man Challenge’ in order to generate awareness about its broad portfolio of loans and leasing products among people residing in both the centre and outskirts of Kurunegala. This promotional drive resulted in new customers from the area accessing a host of financing options to fulfil their diverse needs.
The promotion fits in with HNB Finance’s overarching strategy of initiating a series of monthly on-ground brand activations at all of its branches, cultivating a close grassroots bond with numerous Sri Lankans.
“It is a great honour to have earned such international recognition in a field of nominees which boasts some of the world’s top commercial and financial entities. By being the only Sri Lankan company to have claimed a coveted Gold Award, we did not merely fortify the international reputation of HNB Finance but also that of the entire local corporate sector,” said HNB Finance Managing director and CEO Chaminda Prabhath.
Founded in 2012, the ACEF program is organised by a team of professionals from India, Sri Lanka and the UAE and guided by advisory members housed in branding, marketing and creative agencies based in India, the US, Australia, Singapore, the UAE and Sri Lanka. ACEF programmes target the customer engagement activities, branding, marketing, CSR, properties (hospitality and real estate), rural marketing and HR segments. They are planned for India, Sri Lanka and the Gulf Cooperation Council and Asia Pacific regions.
Meanwhile, HNB Finance Limited, which was established in 2000, is licensed as a registered Finance Company by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Maintaining an extensive island-wide presence across 48 branches and 21 service centres with the power of Hatton National Bank’s 715 ATMs, HNB Finance has over the recent past expanded into new fields of business and now offers Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loans in addition to savings, gold loans, education loans, home loans, personal loans, fixed deposit facilities and leasing products.