Category: Banking and Finance

Jan 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Arpico Finance Company’s long-term rating has been confirmed at BB and its outlook lifted ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on better asset quality and adequate capital, RAM Ratings said. Arpico Finance’s short-term rating has been confirmed at NP, RAM Ratings said. Outlook on the long-term rating has been revised to […]

Jan 26, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka chapter of US based Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) is promoting the adoption of Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) which is useful to attract foreign capital, an official said. The standards are checked by a ‘verifier’ usually an auditor. Rajiv Casie Chitty, the GIPS chair at CFA Sri […]

Jan 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s credit information office is planning a text message alert service by mobile phone for borrowers who forget to make credit card payments, an official said. The service is likely to be available by April. Sri Lanka has about four million borrowers. Gamini Karunaratne, general manager of the Sri […]

Jan 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will set up a common automated teller machine and payment card switch that will process transactions locally, eliminating the need for international routing of transactions between different banks, an official said. “Any firm registered outside Sri Lanka should have a local partner at the time of forwarding the […]

Jan 17, 2011 (LBO) – Credit to private citizens from Sri Lanka’s commercial banks rose 23. 1 percent in November 2010 from a year earlier, while credit to government also rose at a slower 10. 8 percent, official data showed. In November banks loaned 46.3 billion rupees to private borrowers, down slightly from 51. 4 […]

Jan 10, 2011 (LBO) – The Finance Company, is looking to raise 1.6 billion rupees of fresh capital is expecting to return to profits by March 2012 helped by lower interest rates and an improving land market, a senior official said. “Interest rates in Sri Lanka dropped and almost came to a single digit and […]

Jan 07, 2011 (LBO) – The Colombo Stock Exchange has approved an application by The Finance Company, a troubled financed firm that is recovering after a run, for a public share issue to raise 1. 6 billion rupees for fresh capital, a statement said. The firm will issue 40 million ordinary voting shares at 40 […]

Jan 07, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank will keep a closer eye on conglomerates with interest in banks and finance companies, governor Nivard Cabraal said. Financial institutions connected to diversified conglomerates can have greater risks, requiring higher degree of supervision, he said in a speech on the central bank’s monetary policy for 2011. […]

Jan 06, 2011 (LBO) – Bidding for NAMAL, a unit trust management company owned by Sri Lanka’s Distilleries group, is still open and at the preferred bidder stage, a stock exchange filing said. Distilleries group controlled by tycoon Harry Jayawardena has put up a 70 percent stake of NAMAL for sale along with 100 percent […]

Jan 04, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Bank said it plans to open 10 new branches this year with the next being this month in eastern Batticaloa which is recovering from the effects of war. The bank said in a statement its 21st branch was opened in December in Wattala, a northern suburb of […]

Jan 04, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankans who invest in high-risk, high-return unauthorised investment schemes will not be bailed out at tax payer expense if they lose money in future, central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. The regulator will continue public awareness campaigns warning people of the danger of investing money in unauthorised schemes, he […]

Jan 03, 2011 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed State Mortgage and Investment Bank’s (SMIB) long- and short-term financial institutions ratings of A and P1 with a stable outlook for the former, a statement said. “The ratings are based on the bank’s strong capitalisation and the financial flexibility it derives from its sole shareholder, […]