Abans Limited is one of the largest conglomerates in Sri Lanka, which at present holds more than 27 subsidiary companies, of which its main core business activity is retail. In addition to this Abans also provides a chain of other services, which include inter -alia automobile sales, environmental services, manufacture of electrical appliances, central air conditioning, tours, mobile phones, advertising, real estate and restaurants, etc.
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| Ms. Mano Alles |
Abans Financial Services Limited (AFSL) was initiated in January 2006, commencing its operations initially as a Leasing Company with a view to upgrading itself as a Finance Company. This vision was successfully achieved in the year 2007 making it the 32nd finance company to be registered under the guidelines of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. the Sunday Times spoke to Ms. Mano Alles, Managing Director of AFSL to gain a better insight into the company's operations.
"Abans Limited itself is engaged in the hire purchase business, so it was only logical to operate a Finance Company in order to partly take over its already existing hire purchase business so that the parent company would not be depleted of its working capital.", says Ms. Alles.
With its finance company license AFSL commenced mobilizing deposits, moved into Lease Financing, hire purchase of vehicles equipment and Real Estate. AFSL also enjoys the advantage of the Abans 300 plus islandwide showroom network, for penetration in the rural areas offering Abans Finance a competitive edge.
"Hence we at present have a very good outreach where we have been successful in establishing 9 branches island wide. Our branches are located in the areas of Kandy, Katugasthota, Dambulla, Badulla, Galle, Anuradhapura, Rathnapura, Kurunegala etc. In the future we also intend to expand our services to the North and East areas of the country, but this expansion will take place gradually where we will be initially opening branches that will be easily accessible to customers. Under the present depressed market conditions, the strategy that we have developed is to consolidate and focus more on our collections whilst also being very selective in our lending as our main focus was on liquidity and better servicing our depositors", further stated Ms. Alles.
AFSL has been successful in achieving a profit of Rs. 15 million within the first year of its operations and in the second year the company was successful in doubling its profits. The third year has been a turbulent one not only for AFSL but across the entire industry as well where the unexpected unfortunate events which took place in the recent past among some financial institutions shattered the public trust placed on the entire financial and banking industry. Gradually however public confidence is coming back, and AFSL is spearheading a very aggressive deposit mobilization drive as the company feels that it is the right time to start and reactivate its operations.
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| Mr. Kithsiri Wanigasekara |
Commenting on the company's strength and its future directions, Ms. Alles said, "We are governed by the rules and regulations of the Central Bank and in addition to this we also have a good state-of-the-art open arc system in place for all our operations.
This particular module covers the areas of leasing, hire purchase, mortgage loans, real estate, mobilization of deposits and vehicle loans etc. Presently we have over a 75% staff members working for us and despite the challenges that threaten to slow down the economy, AFSL is continuing its operations progressively giving priority for consolidation of the business.
Mr. Kithsiri Wanigasekara who has been recently appointed as an Executive Director on the Board of Abans Financial Services Limited says, "We will be building our businesses in the provinces with the assistance of our network of branches and customer centers. We intend to build the rural customer base significantly in the months ahead and build a portfolio of our investments outside western province. There is enormous potential for growth in these areas and we look forward to consolidate our position in the provinces." |
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