Category: Banking and Finance

Oct 24, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed an ‘AAA(lka)’ rating Standard Chartered Bank’s Sri Lanka with a stable outlook. Fitch said SCB Sri Lanka’s loan book had contracted 7 percent in the first half of 2013 after expanding 18 percent in 2012 in line with a drop in lending seen in Sri Lankan […]

Oct 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka-based Commercial Bank of Ceylon, the island’s largest private lender by assets, said its unit in Bangladesh has launched an internet banking service. Commercial Bank customers in Bangladesh will be able to pay Grameen Phone Company bills and school fees. “Bangladesh has a rapidly growing customer segment that will […]

Oct 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HDFC Bank, a 51 percent state-owned mortgage lender said it was offering listed yielding as much 15.5 percent a year. HDFC Bank is offering 1.0 billion rupees of debt with an option to sell another 1.0 billion rupees in case the first tranche is oversubscribed. The firm is […]

Oct 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Citizens Development Business Finance, said it had got a 6 million US dollar credit line (780 million rupees) from a Belgian development finance agency.Carole Maman, financial sector director for BIO said CDB offered financial services to rural bottom-of-the-pyramic cystomers. “We appreciate the motivation and quality of CDB’s staff […]

Oct 16, 2013 (LBO) – International Finance Corporation, a unit of World Bank said it had invested 136 million US dollars in private firms in Sri Lanka over the past year, doubling its portfolio to 280 million US dollars. It had also invested in Cargills Bank, a start-up. IFC’s invested 25 million US dollars i […]

Oct 11, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s credit information office will give online access for individuals to check their own status and get reports, an official said.The Bureau has credit information about 600,000 credit records relating to 400,000 customers. Sri Lanka’s Credit Information Bureau (CRIB) collects information from customers of 95 institutions. The information is […]

Oct 11, 2103 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s HDFC Bank rose to 108.4 million rupees in the September 2013 quarter from 9,000 rupees, a year earlier with higher interest and fee income, interim results showed. The bank reported earnings of 1.68 rupees per share for the quarter. In the nine months to September, the […]

Oct 10, 2013 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has rate a planned two billion rupee listed secured debt sale by HDFC Bank, a mortgage lender ‘BBB’. The bank itself is also rated ‘BBB’. RAM said the ratings are backed by majority state ownership of HDFC. The full statement is reproduced below:- RAM Ratings Lanka assigns […]

Oct 07, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said it had confirmed an ‘AA-(lka)’ rating of Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank (SB) with a stable outlook.“Fitch believes that SB’s asset quality may weaken in 2013, in line with its expectation for the sector, but would continue to compare well against most ‘AA(lka)’ category-rated private bank peers,” the […]

Oct 05, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed an ‘A-(lka)’ rating by Seylan Bank Plc, with a ‘stable’ outlook.An upgrade of Seylan’s rating would be contingent upon its standalone rating moving above the support-driven rating, by way of significant and sustained improvement in asset quality and provisioning while maintaining other credit metrics in line […]

Sept 17, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said it had confirmed an ‘AAA(lka)’ domestic rating of Sri Lanka’s Citibank branch (CitiSL) with a stable outlook, amid a contracting loan book.Its loan book contracted by 18% in H113 and 9% in 2012, in contrast to loan expansion in the overall banking system, reflecting CitiSL’s focus on […]