Facilitating higher education opportunities for school leavers, Sri Lanka’s premier private bank HNB PLC, partnered with the esteemed British College of Applied Studies (BCAS) Institute to offer educational loans with low interest rates to students and a range of digital banking solutions to the Institute.
The two industry giants came together at HNB Towers to sign the MOU in the presence of HNB Head of Network Management & Business Development Supun Dias and BCAS Executive Director/CEO Dr. Susil Kumara, BCAS Director- Finance, Rozan Jameel and BCAS Head of Sales and Marketing, Shivan Jayasuriya.
“Shaping the future of this generation’s young minds is a very important initiative for the future, and in collaboration with BCAS campus we hope to make the transition into receiving a university education seamless and trouble- free. We hope this alliance will incentivize students to pursue their higher studies,” HNB Head of Network Management & Business Development Supun Dias said.
Students will reap the benefits of the partnership via unique education loans tailor made to ensure their journey to success is funded successfully. Additionally, the bank will also offer a range of digital services from its portfolio including a payee partnership solution for students to conveniently pay their fees as well as the Payfast system for the institute to make salary, EPF, ETF and supplier payments easily.
“Given the pandemic and the hardships faced by the country at this time, we understand that students are faced with challenging decisions when trying to pursue their higher education. We hope this partnership will grant them access to facilities that will allow them to obtain an uninterrupted education,” BCAS Executive Director/CEO Dr. Susil Kumara said.
An establishment with a tenure of 23 years in higher education, BCAS campus has been the proud host to over 18,000 Graduates. The expanse of their services stretching past Colombo to branches in Mount Lavinia, Kandy, Jaffna, Kalmunai so that students away from the city limits have access to a world class education.
The institute itself offers over 30 programs including internationally recognized British degrees in IT, Management, Health Science, Engineering, Law and Quantity Surveying, amongst a wide range of other subjects offered as well. The institution is affiliated with universities such as Solent University, South Hampton, Oxford Brookes University and University of east London, making the learning experience a one-of-a-kind opportunity for persevering youth.
With 256 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. Consolidating its reputation for banking excellence, HNB bagged the Best Retail Bank and Best SME Bank awards in the Banking category at the International Finance Awards 2021. The bank was also ranked among the World Top 1,000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based Banker Magazine for five consecutive years. HNB was also declared Best Sub-Custodian Bank in Sri Lanka at the Global Finance Awards 2020. HNB has a national rating of AA- (lka) by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd.