HNB takes top 100 Singithi depositors on exciting tour

Hatton National Bank (HNB) recently rewarded the children who emerged as the top 100 depositors in Singithi Savings Month 2014 with an exciting educational tour to popular attractions in and around Colombo.

The first stop on the tour was Water World Kelaniya, the only public aquarium in Sri Lanka and home to the first-ever Underwater Tunnel Aquarium in South Asia. Located on a scenic five-acre property on the banks of the Kelani River, Water World houses over 150 display tanks and ponds, a Shark Dome and over 10,000 living aquatic organisms.

Thereafter, the tour moved to the Liquid Plant Centre and Powder Plant of Fonterra Brands Lanka in Biyagama, the local office of the world’s largest exporter of dairy products. The children had the opportunity of visiting the Fonterra Liquid Plant Centre for milk powder blending and packing, which produces almost half a million packs of milk powder every day and the Fonterra Powder Plant, the largest and most sophisticated yoghurt processing facility in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the winners of the art competition conducted during Savings Month 2014 were rewarded with a guided tour of the historic Ratmalana Airport, which has a rich heritage of 80 years as one of the oldest airports in South Asia. During the Second World War, it was used as a Royal Air Force base and civilianised planes flew into Ratmalana from Perth, Western Australia, on what was at the time the world’s longest non-stop air route. For decades Ratmalana served as Colombo’s sole international airport before the construction of Bandaranaike International Airport in the 1960s.

The art competition winners were then taken around Colombo to witness and experience popular landmarks of the city such as the Parliament Complex, Old Parliament, Diyatha Uyana, Dutch Hospital, Independence Square and Galle Face Green. The children were mostly from outstation areas and cherished the opportunity to visit these attractions.

HNB Singithi Savings Month is held throughout the month of October each year to commemorate the World Children’s Day and World Thrift Day, which fall on October 1 and 31, respectively. The HNB Singithi brand consists of Singithi Kirikatiyo, Singithi Lama and HNB Teen, which are specialized accounts offered as soon as a child is born, is enrolled in school, becomes a teenager and becomes a youth, respectively.

The 2015 Singithi Savings Month will be carried out in October and many fantastic tours and other rewards have been planned by HNB to incentivise children to save for their future.