Category: Banking and Finance

June 26, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank was given a ‘B+’ rating by Standard and Poor’s Rating Services, ahead of a planned international fund raising. “The ratings on NDB reflect the bank’s satisfactory business and revenue diversification and adequate risk management practices,” S & P analyst Amit Pandey said in a statement. […]

June 26, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cut the deposits that commercial banks have to keep with the central bank by 200 basis points to 6.0 percent to boost lending cut intermediation costs, the central bank said.The full statement is reproduced below Central Bank reduces Statutory Reserve Requirement (SRR) by 2 percentage points Since […]

June 26, 2013 (LBO) – A two percentage point cut in Sri Lanka’s bank reserve ratio to 6.0 percent will lower costs, expand funds available to be given as loans, allowing banks to bring down lending rates, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.But the greater benefit will in the ongoing intermediate cost reduction and the […]

June 24, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said it had downgraded Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank by one level to ‘AA-(lka)’ amid greater retail lending. The agency also downgraded the bank’s outstanding subordinated redeemable debentures to ‘A+(lka)’. Both A+(lka) and AA-(lka) are in the investment grade. Project loans have reduced as a share of total […]

June 18, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank Plc said it had got 24 million US dollars through a 10-year loan from the International Finance Corporation, a multilateral lender which will be used to finance small businesses. “IFC’s investment brings the required long-term financing which will help NDB to promote the much needed […]

June 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s credit to private business fell to a three year low of 7.6 billion rupees in April 2013 the lowest since May 2010, with state borrowings continuing to crowd out other loans. Contractions in central bank credit help build up foreign reserves and keep the exchange rate strong but […]

June 13, 2013 (LBO) – A forum for chief financial offers will kick off Thursday evening on opportunities, strategies and challenges with respect to the future growth of Sri Lanka’s banking sector. Senior bankers and a senior representative from Central Bank will take part in panel discussion on the above areas and other key challenges. […]

June 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s licensed finance companies (LFC), which play in the sub-prime market has cut exposure to property and stocks, though they are facing an uptick in non-performing loans amidst a downturn, a rating report said.Investments in land and property had fallen to 1.86 percent of assets in the 9 months […]

June 6, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon will finance 48.2 kilometre road at a cost of 3,915 million rupees, the state information office said.The cabinet of ministers had given the nod for the proposal by the ministry of finance to enter into a loan agreement with the bank. The road will […]

May 31, 2013 (LBO) – A new finance company unit of Sri Lanka’s Richard Peiris group will focus and core hire purchase and leasing but expects to gain an from group synergies, officials said.Richard Pieris Arpico Finance, a Central Bank registered firm, has been capitalized with 400 million rupees and which will be topped up […]

May 31, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank group has reported net profits of 1.2 billion rupees in the March 2013 quarter, up 63 percent from a year earlier, helped by higher interest income. The group reported earnings of 4.63 rupees per share reporting on accounts filed with the Colombo stock exchange using Sri […]

May 30, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking to give the freedom of getting inward payments through Paypal, a cost-effective global remittance and payments system that has helped boost e-commerce in many countries, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.“We are looking at it seriously,” Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal told LBO. “We have to […]