Business
NSB among top 10 ‘Women Friendly Workplaces’ in Sri Lanka
Women constitute 55% of NSB workforce
They contributed tremendously to achieve Bank’s highest-ever PBT and PAT in 2020
Awards audited by Ernst & Young to ensure a fair and accurate result
The first-ever Women Friendly Workplace Awards (WFWP Awards) 2021 jointly pioneered by Satynmag.com, and CIMA Sri Lanka was held on recently at the Atrium Lobby of the Cinnamon Grand.
Ms. Sarah Twigg, Programme Manager – Women in Work – Sri Lanka at IFC was the Chief Guest while the Guest of Honour was Ms Farzana Jameel PC, Senior Additional Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Department.
With the view of identifying the organisations that encourage gender equality, 10 organisations were awarded as Women Friendly Workplaces including that of the National Savings Bank (NSB). The awards were judged by a distinguished panel of judges and audited by Ernst & Young to ensure a fair and accurate result.
NSB, being one of the leading banks in Sri Lanka, always believes that banks have a substantial role to play in empowering women in all aspects. NSB encourages and empowers women in the Bank by providing enormous opportunities to provide a better service to the nation while being successful in the role that they play at the home front as well. Moreover, NSB encourages women in the society by supporting them to inculcate the habit of savings and thereby encourage them to be financially independent and shoulder the multiple responsibilities entrusted to her as a woman with confidence.
Despite the heightened uncertainty due to the impact of COVID-19, the performance of the Bank over the years was characterized by strength and resilience with the leadership of the Chairperson Mrs. Keasila Jayawardena. The workforce, with a 55% of female contribution, supported to achieve the highest ever Profit Before Tax and Profit After Tax in 2020. Moreover, the NSB empowers young female employees to drive the Bank towards its success, provided that the 63% of the workforce between 18 and 35 years of age is female employees.
With the recognition at Women Friendly Workplace, the NSB continues to maintain the gender equality in the workplace and encourages women in all aspects to be financially independent to fulfil their dreams. Further, the NSB reiterates its commitment to SDG 05, which covers gender equality and opportunity.
The award was received by the Chairperson of NSB- Mrs. Keasila Jayawardena, GM/ CEO-Ajith Peiris Senior Deputy General Manager- K. Raveendran and Deputy General Managers- Ms. Christine Jesudian, Lal Karunatilaka and Ms. Anusha Fernando.
Ceylinco Life’s Ambalantota branch agent AIP Manjula has been named one of three global finalists for the prestigious Insurance Agent of the Year award at the 11th Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards (ATLAA) 2026.
The recognition places a Sri Lankan insurance professional among the finalists in a regional field spanning South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Ceylinco Life said the achievement reflected the calibre and customer-focused approach of its agency force, while recognising Manjula’s professionalism and commitment to policyholders.
The award evaluates insurance agents on criteria extending beyond sales performance, including ethical conduct, client service, policy persistency, digital adoption, innovative practices and contributions to the insurance industry and community.
The awards are organised by Asia Advisers Network and Asia Insurance Review, with LIMRA as co-organiser. An independent judging and balloting process is monitored by KPMG as the official scrutineer. The judging panel comprises senior insurance executives, association presidents and industry experts from across the Asia-Pacific region.
CEAT Kelani Holdings (CKH) has retained its National Long-Term Rating of ‘AA+(lka)’ with a Stable Outlook from Fitch Ratings for the sixth consecutive year, reflecting the company’s financial resilience and leading position in Sri Lanka’s pneumatic tyre market.
The ‘AA+(lka)’ rating, the second-highest on Fitch’s national scale, indicates a very strong capacity to meet financial commitments.
Fitch said CKH’s established market leadership and resilient financial profile remained key strengths, while noting its exposure to price-sensitive, cyclical and highly competitive markets.
The Stable Outlook reflects expectations that the company will maintain its market position despite rising input costs and increasing competition from imported tyres, while preserving adequate credit metrics during periods of weaker earnings and higher investment.
Fitch expects CKH’s established brand, extensive dealer network and adaptive pricing strategies to support its market position. Planned production facility upgrades are also expected to improve product quality, particularly in the radial tyre segment.
The rating agency expects near-term pressure on margins from higher raw material and energy costs but said the company’s low leverage and sound liquidity would provide a cushion.
CKH Chairman Chanaka De Silva said the rating reinforced the company’s focus on disciplined financial management, operational adaptability and long-term investment.
SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise, the enterprise services arm of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, has launched its Premium Cloud service powered by Nutanix, aimed at helping Sri Lankan businesses modernise their IT infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.
The service was unveiled at the Lanka Tech Summit 2026 held recently at ITC Ratnadipa, Colombo.
The Premium Cloud combines hybrid multi-cloud capabilities with enterprise-grade performance, enabling businesses to run mission-critical workloads, scale cloud deployments and strengthen business continuity through disaster recovery capabilities.
Hosted on SLT-MOBITEL’s Tier III data centre infrastructure, the platform is designed to provide enhanced security, reliability and flexibility while supporting the growing technology requirements of enterprises.
SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise said the platform would also support organisations seeking to adopt AI-ready capabilities and improve the management and performance of IT workloads.
A key feature of the launch was SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise joining the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program (NESPP), which the company said made it the first service provider in the region to join the programme.
Powered by Nutanix’s hybrid multicloud platform, the service enables application and data mobility across on-premises environments, public clouds and edge locations.
The company said the partnership combined Nutanix’s cloud technology with SLT-MOBITEL’s local expertise and support, strengthening its multi-cloud portfolio.
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