Category: Banking and Finance

May 11, 2010 (LBO ) – Sri Lanka’s PABC Bank’s net profit for the March 2010 quarter fell 27 percent to 67.5 million rupees from a year earlier, on weaker fee income despite maintaining margins and loan growth while rates fell, interim accounts showed. PABC’s gross assets grew to 22.1 billion rupees from 21.5 billion […]

May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank group has reported profits of 195.5 million rupees in the March 2010 quarter from break-even levels a year earlier with wider interest margins boosting the bottom line. Group interest income fell 34.6 percent to 4,052 million rupees, but interest expenses fell at a faster 54. 6 […]

May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed Sampath Bank has sold down more of its stake in a Bangladesh finance firm, the bank said in a series of disclosures in the Dhaka stock exchange. On April 19 Sampath Bank as a corporate sponsor of the LankaBangla Finance said it had sold a total of […]

May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank group has reported profits of 195.5 million rupees in the March 2010 quarter from break-even levels a year earlier with wider interest margins boosting the bottom line. Group interest income fell 34.6 percent to 4,052 million rupees, but interest expenses fell at a faster 54.6 percent […]

May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sinhaputhra Finance, a regulated non-bank financial firm based in Sri Lanka’s hill country city of Kandy, has been given the nod for a listing on its second board, the Colombo Stock Exchange said. The firm will list 6,295,893 shares, the CSE statement said without elaborating. The firm will be listed […]

May 05, 2010 (LBO) – HSBC’s Asia Pacific head of corporate real estate, Richley Featherstone is visiting Colombo to meet senior management and the head of the bank’s operations in Sri Lanka and Maldives. The corporate real estate department acts as the custodian of HSBC premises providing the right property at the right time to […]

May 01, 2010, JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance companies are expanding with confidence returning to the sector following a panic 2009, though regulators are working on a handful of troubled firms, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. Sri Lanka’s Bartleets Financial Services and Central Investments and Finance Limited (CIFL) opened branches in […]

Apr 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will take over ‘abandoned property’ of depositors in banks to start a mandatory deposit insurance scheme, the island’s central bank, which is the banking regulator, has said. The central bank said it had ‘temporary custody’ of 371 million rupees of ‘abandoned property’ unclaimed by depositors in licensed commercial […]

Apr 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank (NTB) is to use a ‘feeder branch’ network to expand in the former north-east war zone to bring down operating costs, and wants donor agencies to subsidize credit risks, a senior official said. However Rajakaruna warned banks operating in relatively unfamiliar territory are open to […]

Apr 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it will open a ‘holiday banking centre’ at a well-known shopping mall in the capital Colombo to meet growing demand for extended banking hours and higher cash withdrawals. The centre at the Majestic City mall will stay open from 10.00 am to 7.30 pm on […]

LONDON, April 21, 2010 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund has proposed two new global taxes on banks and other financial institutions to cover the cost of future bailouts, the BBC reported. The measures would see all institutions pay a bank levy as well as a further tax on profits and pay, which would aim […]

Apr 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance, whose initial public offering (IPO) was over-subscribed, has given preference to small investors in allocating the shares, a stock exchange filing said. Investors who applied for up to 100 shares will be given all the shares they asked, the company said in a statement. Those who […]