The Hatton National Bank (HNB) in its efforts to inculcate the savings habit among young school going children of this country, has spearheaded the Student Managers Conference, to set the wheels in motion of the bank’s efforts of bringing in the savings habit at school level. The bank was instrumental in setting up 152 student savings units in a number of schools in the country over the last few years and appointed student managers and trained them to carry out banking functions at school level. The bank this year, took steps to revive these units with a series of special student manager conferences held in Colombo, Galle, Tissamaharama, Kurunegala and Kandy with the intention of instilling the values of learning to save whilst also learning the proper techniques of money management.

These conferences also aimed at building up the savings habit among students for the benefit of their future, developing knowledge about banking among students, identifying school children as potential customers of the bank and participating in school development activities along with the assistance of students and the teachers of schools. The Student Manager Conference also concentrated on making the student develop a positive outlook towards life and take up the challenges of managing a mini bank at school level. The Student Managers conference is a continuous programme conducted by the Hatton National Bank to bring the younger generation of Sri Lanka into the threshold of the countries activities, particularly in the finance sector. The conferences held looked at other key areas other than banking and savings and gave insightful knowledge about leadership, personality development, time management etc for the aspiring student manager.

The bank has, during the past several years, been utilising its own resources, time, energy and staff to carry out this exercise. The conference also allows school children to gain insights on what is happening in the global business world and advises the student managers to build communication skills to update their knowledge according to the present trend in global technology development to reach their goals in life. A special incentive scheme was also introduced for the student managers to encourage students in the respective schools to save more. All student mangers and teachers who participate in this conference were presented with gift tokens of appreciation for the dedicated service rendered to their respective school units.

The bank stands strong in the fact that the savings habit should be started off with small initiatives by teaching the younger generations the value of the savings habit. The bank also feels that students from a young age must be given an insight into the business world, helping them not only to inculcate the savings habit but also to nurture financially competent individuals with the capabilities to take on any type of challenge.