SDB bank and Hayleys Fentons sign MoU to promote sustainable energy and building solutions

In a historic partnership entered into on August 24, SDB bank and Hayleys Fentons have come together to promote sustainable solutions relating to energy and built environment through innovative customer value propositions, in what represents a fresh direction involving new markets for both entities.

The initiative marks an expansion of SDB bank’s banking and financial services portfolio, with the bank now offering loan and lease facilities for sustainable energy and sustainable built environment solutions to their diverse customer base across MSME, Business Banking, Retail, Leasing and Cooperative segments.

Fentons Limited, a pioneering engineering firm in Sri Lanka with a 100-year legacy, operating as Hayleys Fentons since 2019 upon becoming a part of the Hayleys Group, is set to offer their solar PV installation services plus energy efficiency and green building solutions to SDB bank’s customers island wide, drawing on the bank’s network of 94 branches island wide. 

As part of this initiative, SDB bank will provide attractive financing propositions for solar PV systems across their varied customer segments, with HayleysFentons offering a 5 percent discount on their listed price to SDB bank clients.

Furthermore, SDB bank’s SME, Cooperative and High Net Worth clients will be able to avail structured financial solutions from the bank, in support of their bids for CEB tenders involving utility scale projects such as those tendered in the Ground Mounted Solar segment.

The partnership will further allow the bank to contribute strongly to Sri Lanka’s goal of sourcing 70 percent of the island’s electricity requirement through renewable energy by 2030 (as committed in Sri Lanka’s Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement). 

Activities undertaken within this partnership, such as those relating to awareness raising on sustainable solutions and enabling access to technology and financing, are expected to yield a significant positive contribution in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in relation toSDG 07 on Affordable & Clean Energy and SDG 13 on Climate Action. 

Additionally, the cooperation with Hayleys Fentons will reinforce SDB bank’s ambition to reduce its internal environmental footprint, with the two entities working closely to review the potential of green building and sustainable energy solutions across SDB bank’s office and branch network. 

The bank has already commenced assessments of bank’s branch rooftops to assess the feasibility of installing Solar PV rooftop systems. The bank will also review energy management and health and safety solutions, when making decisions relating to renovations of premises and new branch locations.