Category: Banking and Finance

Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it has started an overdraft facility backed by gold at 15 percent a year for current account holders, which the bank said is lower than the rate on regular overdrafts. “The Gold Overdraft is an ideal solution for those who invest in the stock market, […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan banker has urged a shift to loans based on cash-flows, not assets, and more lending to people in the north-east of money mopped up by new branches in the former war zone. Rajendra Theagarajah, chief executive of the private listed Hatton National Bank, said banks should […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – The state-owned Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) seeks to merge with two units of its parent Bank of Ceylon group, a stock exchange filing said. It said a proposal is being considered to merge Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka and Ceylease Finance Services with Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry chief lashed out at the country’s cautious banks which are reluctant to engage in risky lending and also slammed a credit information office, labeling it ‘infamous’. “The associated risks and the mismatch in asset and liabilities of these institutions have imposed a severe burden to their […]

Aug 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Bank said net profits rose 54 percent to 50 million rupees in the half year to June 2010 from a year ago as margins improved and that it plans to have more branches. Interest income fell 10 percent to 858 million rupees while interest expenses fell at […]

Aug 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sanasa Development Bank (SDB), a small lender from the co-operative movement, has retained its ‘BBB’ local long term rating with a stable outlook, RAM Ratings Lanka said. “Despite its high-risk target market, SDB has been able to maintain its better-than-industry asset quality, supported by its stringent credit evaluation […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan unit of Standard Chartered Bank’s (SCB) June quarter profits shot up 679 percent to 8. 773 billion rupees on a specific loan loss provision reversal on an oil hedging deal, its published accounts showed. SCB’s interest income fell 32 percent to 3. 41 billion rupees, while interest […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank is violating its own good governance code when a pension fund it manages buys stakes in banks and financial institutions which it regulates, an economist and opposition parliamentarian said. Harsha de Silva said he was “appalled” at the statement by the Central Bank that the Employees […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – National Development Bank (NDB) June quarter profits fell 17. 9 percent to 434.7 million rupees, due to a fall in fee-based incomes, while personal, premises and operating costs have gone up, a stock exchange filing said. NDB group’s interest income had come down 16. 4 percent to 2.45 billion rupees, […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – India’s Mahindra and Mahindra group plans to enter Sri Lanka’s financial sector, especially the rural areas, officials said. There were “imminent opportunities in financial services’, said Ramesh Iyer, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services. “Capital is not a constraint in terms of wanting to grow in Sri Lanka. […]

Aug 18 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it has confirmed Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka Branch’s (SCBSL) National Long-term rating at ‘AAA(lka)’ with a stable outlook. “SCBSL’s rating reflects Standard Chartered Bank’s (SCB) financial strength, of which SCBSL is a branch and part of the same legal entity,” Fitch said in a statement. SCB […]

Aug 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said a pension fund it manages would increase exposure to equities as government paper, in which it has invested the bulk of money, become less attractive with falling interest rates. The bank said the Employees’ Provident Fund, the biggest fund in the country, has authority to […]