All Blogs
Low Cost Loans
Government has put up Rs. 3 billion to provide low cost housing loans in a bid to raise the levels of house ownership in the country.Specialized housing banks like HDFC and the NDB Housing Bank will lend the government funds.rn rnHousing loans will carry a 10.5 percent annual interest to the end customer. The scheme, […]
No System Risk
Officials say the collapse of Pramuka Bank will not pose a systemic risk to the financial sector, as most commercial banks did not have links with the failed bank.Finance Minister K. N. Choksy told LBR on Tuesday (17 Dec.) that the financial system could withstand the effects of Pramuka Banks liquidation.rn rnAs Pramuka was the […]
Little Solace
Depositors of the collapsed Pramuka Savings & Development Bank are likely to get a third of their money back once the liquidation process starts to roll in.Smalltime depositors who had invested up to Rs. 50,000 are likely to get most of their capital back. But for others who invested millions, their capital is likely to […]
Tour De Farce
The future of the tourism industry hangs loose as travel associations squabble over as to that should represent the industry.Some in the trade have already made representations to the government challenging the status of the newly established Tourism and Travel association.rn rnThe association formed with government patronage was thought to comprise both the travel agents […]
Courting The Beauty
Talk about beauty culture and you think of stuff like hair dos and make up. That is pretty much all that most salons in the city offer anyway.But a few are breaking this convention, giving some really wild and wacky offerings.They are also managing to draw in a whole new set of clients who are […]
Who Pays?
Fixed phone subscribers could pay between Rs. 2.63 to Rs. 6.12 more if all incoming calls to mobile phones are made free from Jan.01. The telecom watchdog is however facing strong resistance from all operators who say the tariffs are unreasonable.rn rnIn hopes of resolving the deadlock, the regulator is holding a marathon session of […]
Down the Drain
Central Bank today directed its banking supervision department to liquidate Pramuka, after cancelling its licence. An attempt to revive the suspended bank was put down by the Central Bank as it involved channelling Rs. 600 million of taxpayers money into the venture.rn rnThe Central Bank says the request was dropped as the directors and shareholders […]
Caught Out
As regulators continued to probe deeper in to the Pramuka Bank irregularities, a senior bank official was caught red-handed by Central Bank officials on Wednesday allegedly trying to take some vital documents out of the banks premises.Regulators ranging from the Central Bank, the Criminal Investigation Dept, Bribery Commission and Labour Commission are presently combing through […]
Local Tie
Sampath and Bank of Ceylon signed a memorandum of understanding to link their automatic teller machines locally, a top official said.The deal will create a combined network of more that 150 machines which almost double the amount of ATMs that customers in each bank can now access.rn rnThough customers of banks that use the Cirrus […]