Northern Reach

Dec 24, 2008 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank said it would offer 'Saturday banking' services at its Nelliady branch in the northern Jaffna peninsula, once a hot-bed of Tamil Tiger insurgency. With effect from January 1, 2009, the branch located in MMV Road, Nelliady, will be open on Saturdays from 9.00 a.m. to 1.30. p.m. for the convenience of customers, the bank said in a statement.

"We have a substantial customer base in this area and we identified the need for offering Saturday Banking at new locations in the peninsula," it quoted Commercial Bank’s Regional Manager (North-Eastern Region) Selva Rajasooriyar as saying.

"We launched Saturday Banking in the Jaffna main branch in 2003 and the popularity of this service has grown tremendously and it was decided to extend this service to Nelliady."

The branch is equipped with two ATMs that are linked to over 330 ATMs of the bank in Sri Lanka and the worldwide network of Cirrus and Maestro ATMs.

Commercial Bank’s Nelliady branch manager S.K. Gunasingham said that the new service would help government officials and other customers who find it difficult to transact business on week days.

Commercial Bank operates fiv