No Control

Dec 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Ceylinco Insurance says its board has not been given control of Golden Key Credit Card Company, a troubled Ceylinco group firm that could not repay its customers earlier this month. Ceylinco Insurance said in a stock exchange filing that "the control of Golden Key Credit Card Company and its subsidiaries have not been handed over to the board of directors of Ceylinco Insurance PLC".

There were earlier media reports that a specialist hospital built by Golden Key Credit Card may have been handed over to Ceylinco Insurance along with control of the firm.

Golden Key Credit Card Company has run into severe liquidity problems, with estimated customer liabilities of around 12 to 26 billion rupees.

There has been no official confirmation of the liabilities.

Ceylinco chairman Lalith Kotelawala has promised to repay Golden Key customers, who had placed deposits at high interest to get credit cards.

Kotelawala also said Ceylinco would exit Seylan Bank to raise money.