Category: Banking and Finance

November 14, 2006 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank Ltd, Sri Lanka’s second biggest privately owned lender by assets, Tuesday said group net profits rose to 580.60 million rupees for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 35 percent reported in the same period 2005. Hatton National Bank, which is active in leasing, corporate finance, […]

Nov 14, 2006 (LBO) – Bank of Ceylon (BoC), Sri Lanka’s biggest lender in terms of assets, plans to finish linking up all its branches within the next few days, allowing customers to carry out their banking needs by using the Internet, officials said Tuesday. “We have 302 local branches and 248 of those branches […]

November 14, 2006 (LBO) – High taxes have hit profits of DFCC on the September quarter but six months profits are still higher than the previous year.After tax profits of DFCC group after minority interest fell to 395 million rupees for the latest quarter down from 451 million for the same period last year. At […]

November 10, 2006 (LBO) – Commercial Bank of Ceylon, one of Sri Lanka’s most profitable commercial banks, Friday posted a 40 percent growth in net profits for the nine months ended Sept. 30, helped partly by capital gains from selling part of shares in DFCC Bank. During the period, the bank also hired Hewitt Outsourcing […]

November 9, 2006 (LBO) – Most local small and medium enterprises lack support services like marketing and technical skills rather than access to credit to grow their businesses, a top Central Bank official said Thursday. Local banks are heavily weighted towards collateral base lending, instead of project based lending, which in turn makes it difficult […]

November 09 (LBO) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has responded to a weekend news report in the continuing controversy over the sudden closure of a special investigation unit that was probing the Goldquest scheme among others.Administration Rationalization and Investigations into Prohibited Schemes This Press Release is issued to clear any misconception that may […]

November 02, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank Ltd’s shareholders Thursday voted in favour of raising the bank’s authorised share capital and lifting the maximum shareholder limit to be on par with Central Bank guidelines. Sampath Bank may also be a possible takeover target once again, with a single shareholder making moves to own […]

November 2, 2006 (LBO) – Authorities who are probing the Seagullsoftware Ponzi scam have found that the firm had accounts in at least two commercial banks, while its participants say cheques have cleared through yet another bank. Seagullsoftware ran a pyramid scam variant, which masqueraded as a business process outsourcing company. Banking sources say about […]

Nov 1, 2006 (LBO) – Banking giant HSBC tied up with Sri Lanka’s General Post Office on Wednesday to widen customer access to general banking facilities. Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank customers will be able to access their accounts through 15 General Post Offices (GPOs) which will offer cash and cheque deposits, credit card services […]

October 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is toying with the idea of starting a provident fund for migrant workers in an attempt to give countrymen a form of saving to live after retirement. Over 1.5 million Sri Lankans, who work and reside overseas, have remitted 1.539 billion dollars to the country during the eight […]

Oct 29 (LBO) – Police have sought advice from the Attorney General on how to proceed in getting international help to track down two Indian nationals who ran a Ponzi-style pyramid scam in Sri Lanka. The unit was recently disbanded under controversial circumstances sometime after it caused the arrest of several Goldquest activists with the […]

October 27, 2006 (LBO) – Amana Takaful Ltd., a specialized Islamic insurance company, plans to list 12.5 million shares on the Colombo Stock Exchange by way of an introduction. Priced at 10.00 rupees each, the shares will be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange’s secondary board. There will be no public issue of shares, CSE’s […]