Every year on October 1st World Children’s Day is celebrated in Sri Lanka as well, in recognition of the younger generation that will take over the future of the world.
A child should be allowed to freely spend his or her childhood, to derive the real benefits.
It is also essential that their health be protected and they receive an education that equips them to face a competitive world in the future.
It is also very important that the savings habit be inculcated in them.
The Lakdaru Children’s Savings Account of the SDB bank has been tailored to fully meet these demands.
SDB bank has made arrangements to provide various gifts and scholarship programmes to children who have Lakdaru Accounts.
Among the unique features of these children’s account are; the entitlement to 1% more interest than with ordinary savings account; the entitlement to attractive gifts based on the account balance; students who excel at the Year 5 Scholarship Examination or the GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L) Examinations being entitled with cash rewards up to Rs 50,000; and account holders who maintain a minimum balance of Rs. 10,000 for a month being entitled to a medical insurance to the value of Rs. 50,000 annually via a cashless card for hospitalization for any illness.
Under this scheme while a sum of Rs. 5,000 per day will be paid in the event of hospitalisation in a private hospital, a sum of Rs. 3,500 will be paid in the event of being hospitalised in a government hospital.
In the same way, the bank has launched a special Lakdaru promotion (subject to allocated resources) targeting World Children’s Day and the Savings Month.
For every new Lakdaru account being opened during this period, SDB bank will provide a sum equivalent to the sum deposited by the account-holder subject to a limit of Rs. 1,000, and a sum of uptoRs. 5,000 in respect of standing orders.
For a balance of Rs. 1,000 in the Lakdaru account which can be opened with Rs. 500, your child will be gifted with an attractive world map with important information on the countries of the world, which will provide a wealth of knowledge necessary until your child completes schooling.
Additionally, many more gifts including tills to encourage the savings habit, caps, valuable school bags, bicycles, dictionaries, Tabs and Laptops will also be given.
Similarly, every child SDB bank account-holder, who is successful at the year 5 Scholarship Examination will receive gifts, while those who excel at the district and all-island levels of Year 5 Scholarship Examination, GCE (O/L) or GCE (A/L) will receive cash rewards.
The Dayada Investment Certificate is another very special award that the SDB bank has introduced for the country’s children.
Through this a child gets the opportunity to step into society at age 18 with some economic stability.
Sri Lankan culture emotionally bonds the parents and their children even after the children reaching their young adulthood.
Parents tend to look after their child and support them financially as well.
Due to these, pressure is built up among parents on how to take care of the children and their needs after they grow up.
SDB Dayada is an ideal solution to release parent’s pressure since the guaranteed return will be a benefit for the child, even if the parent is employed or not, when the child grows.
Anyone who wishes to make a worthy endowment to an infant or a child can gift Investment Certificates.
Based on current market conditions, a new-born infant will have the unique opportunity to receive at age 18, upto five times the investment.
Even if the interest rates in the banking sector were to change, the child will nevertheless be able to receive the sum contracted at the time they were issued.
It need hardly be said as to how valuable this would be for a child who is about to step into the competitive adult world.
It can therefore be said that the SDB Dayada Investment Certificate is one of the best awards that can be made to a child.
SDB bank also conducted a massive programme of 36 Scholarship Seminars in all districts of the island in association with two leading radio stations.
There were between 1,000 and 1,500 students participating at each seminarand it could be said that this was perhaps the largest scholarship seminar programme in the island for the benefit of students sitting the scholarship examination.
The seminars were organised in both Sinhala and Tamil languages so that all students would be benefited without discrimination.
Without being hemmed-in, the seminars struck away from the established framework for such seminars and charted a new course by organizing separate sessions for parents at the same venue, discussing not only savings but also seeking an attitudinal change in environment conservation and directing rural communities throughout the island towards micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurial opportunities.
SDB bank is a bank that has over a long time, dedicated itself to providing financial services to Sri Lankan customers.
SDB bank has succeeded in introducing a new dimension to the country’s banking sector by providing services such as micro-finance facilities, particularly to people in rural areas who found it difficult to obtain financial services through the traditional banking sector.
Through this unique mission, the bank was able to provide an opportunity for thousands of people to achieve economic prosperity and made a major contribution overall to the country’s economy.
The fame and recognition it has received as a bank that pioneered assistance to the public towards progress, is ample proof of the SDB bank’s mission and its success.