DFCC | LMD

Freelancer – For World Class You!

Aasiri Iddamalgoda, Senior Vice President of Retail Banking and SME at DFCC Financial institution PLC, discusses DFCC Freelancer, the first-ever banking proposition in Sri Lanka tailor-made for freelancers. 

Why is the freelancer neighborhood an vital phase for DFCC Financial institution?

The freelance workforce is pivotal in financial and societal frameworks, though not at all times prominently seen. Nevertheless, participating with this phase has traditionally posed challenges for banks resulting from a variety of things. Thus, the introduction of DFCC Freelancer stands as a big milestone for DFCC Financial institution and the complete trade, because it represents a pioneering initiative on this regard.

In truth, a 2021 research by the Info and Communication Know-how Company (ICTA) revealed a rising freelancer base of roughly 175,000 people, increasing at a notable charge of roughly 17% yearly. These freelancers collectively generated USD 200 million in income from on-line and e-commerce platforms, with a big proportion (60%) possessing lower than 5 years of expertise within the area. Consequently, this phase reveals exceptional progress potential and skews in the direction of a youthful demographic.

Given the character of their work spanning throughout sectors corresponding to know-how, artistic industries, tourism, {and professional} providers, freelancers possess the power to entry world markets, thereby producing appreciable overseas alternate earnings. On-line platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and freelancer.com additional increase alternatives for freelancers, facilitating expanded market attain and elevated overseas income.

Freelancers additionally contribute considerably to financial prosperity and social development. Their provision of various providers and talent units fosters financial growth by catering to the wants of companies and people alike. Notably, their flexibility in providing providers at aggressive and on-demand charges presents a boon, notably for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups.

Regardless of their comparatively low profile, freelancers command important incomes potential, rendering them an interesting buyer phase for DFCC Financial institution, notably amidst the burgeoning freelancer neighborhood in Sri Lanka. Recognising this demographic’s particular calls for and preferences, DFCC Financial institution has endeavoured to ship tailor-made providers and progressive options to their distinctive wants.

What are a few of the distinctive necessities of freelancers, and the way does DFCC Freelancer deal with these?

A major problem freelancers face is money movement, as they want common, predictable incomes. Their revenue is commonly variable, and so they profit from monetary instruments that present added flexibility for intervals the place money movement could also be a difficulty. To handle this, now we have launched a singular DFCC Mastercard Credit score Card to offer monetary flexibility. As well as, now we have additionally recognized that freelancers have a tendency to carry funds short-term and don’t make the most of investments or high-interest financial savings, as they could want entry to their funds on demand. So, this proposition gives tailor-made financial savings options that meet their want for accessibility of funds while concurrently offering them with the next rate of interest.

What makes DFCC Freelancer Stand Out?

Along with being a pioneering resolution in Sri Lanka, our providing encompasses a variety of distinctive benefits. These embody aggressive rates of interest on financial savings, deposits, and enterprise and private overseas foreign money accounts, complemented by membership privileges corresponding to DFCC Pinnacle or Status standing. Moreover, our Wage Accomplice and Wage Plus account rewards are tailor-made to align with common revenue ranges.

Our DFCC Freelancer Mastercard Credit score Card boasts a waived becoming a member of payment, a beneficiant 2% cashback on all overseas foreign money transactions and entry to 0% straightforward cost plans. Moreover, feminine DFCC Freelancer accountholders profit from our DFCC Aloka program, a specialised women-centric banking proposition that includes a number of benefits, together with bespoke insurance coverage choices.

In truth, given the distinctive nature of this phase, now we have innovated to create a recent mannequin to evaluate the creditworthiness of this buyer phase as an alternative of utilizing the normal mannequin. Moreover, holding a DFCC Financial institution Mastercard Credit score Card will assist this phase create and preserve a creditworthiness report, which will likely be helpful sooner or later.

Accordingly, now we have tailor-made versatile financial savings instruments for them with a few of the greatest charges available in the market. DFCC Freelancer additionally considers common earnings and permits this phase to get pleasure from all of the rewards of customer-segmented banking, that are often not accessible to freelancers as they don’t seem to be salaried workers.

Will DFCC Freelancer present elevated monetary freedom for this phase? If that’s the case, how?

Certainly, the DFCC Freelancer initiative provides freelancers a complete array of tailor-made monetary providers to deal with their distinctive necessities. This pioneering resolution caters to their evolving wants and establishes DFCC Financial institution as a frontrunner on this specialised sector. Empowered with efficient saving mechanisms and the flexibleness afforded by the DFCC Freelancer Mastercard Credit score Card, accountholders acquire heightened monetary stability.

Furthermore, they acquire entry to instruments enabling enhanced monetary administration, thereby facilitating the realisation of their desired monetary autonomy. Moreover, this initiative fosters higher monetary integration by offering instruments for formal banking engagement in overseas inward remittances.

By furnishing the mandatory assist construction for his or her development, DFCC Freelancer facilitates their journey in the direction of monetary independence, empowering them to pursue enduring careers as freelancers and doubtlessly as entrepreneurs. This, in flip, is poised to yield a cascading impact on Sri Lanka’s financial system, driving innovation, fostering progress, and cultivating an atmosphere conducive to retaining native expertise relatively than experiencing a mind drain.