Category: Banking and Finance

July 10, 2014 (LBO) – Countries with high levels of externally financed domestic credit should be careful about loose monetary policy, a report by Standard and Poor’s which found Sri Lanka to be most exposed in the region after New Zealand said. Several Asian countries including China were loosening policy in response to a slowing […]

July 10, 2014 (LBO) – Sharhan Muhseen a Sri Lanka born investment banker, has been appointed Head of Financial Institutions for Southeast Asia at Credit Suisse, a Zurich-based financial group. “We are delighted to have Sharhan joining us at Credit Suisse,” Michael Tan, Head of Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Coverage for Asia Pacific said in […]

July 04 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon is planning to 8.0 billion rupees of debt which has been given an expected rating ‘AA(lka) (EXP)’ Fitch Ratings said.The Colombo-listed debentures will have tenors of 5 and 8 years and will have fixed and floating coupons. It will be used for Tier II […]

July 03, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bank credit is estimated to grow 14 percent in 2014 and outlook for the sector is ‘stable’ with bad loans to also stabilize this year, Moody’s, a rating agency said.“¦[A] pipeline of infrastructure projects is expected to boost economic growth, together with an accommodative monetary policy,” Srikanth Vadlamani, […]

July 01, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said ‘almost all’ banks and finance companies have submitted plans to merge or acquire others in a regulatory driven push to consolidate and reduce the number of financial institutions in the country.“These plans will now be reviewed by the Central Bank with a view to facilitating […]

July 01, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s TKS Finance Limited said it was acquiring Asian Finance Limited under a financial sector consolidation initiated by the regulator.The company said its shareholder planned to inject more capital to the merged entity. It would have a branches in Colombo, Ratnapura, Matara, Negombo, Nugegoda, Kandy, Kiribathgoda, Kurunegala, Galle, Ambalangoda […]

June 30, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s credit to private business from commercial banks fell 15.7 billion rupees in April 2014, while credit to government also fell, official data showed, as inflation remained low and the exchange rate was strong. Credit to state enterprises edged up to 331.1 billion rupees in April from 330.0 billion […]

Starting Up June 30, 2014 (LBO) – Cargills Bank Plc, Sri Lanka’s newest commercial bank promoted by listed Cargills (Ceylon) Plc and CT Holdings opened for business Monday. The bank was issued a provisional license shortly before the Central Bank started a process to consolidate the banking sector. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said as […]

June 24, 2014 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said a ‘B+’ rating of Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank has been confirmed with a ‘stable’ outlook. Fitch also confirmed its foreign currency rating of ‘B+/Stable’ and withdrew a ‘B+(EXP)’ rating given to a proposed dollar bond sale which has since been abandoned. NDB is in merger discussions […]

June 24, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Bank Plc raised 75 million US dollars with backed by the International Finance Corporation adding to 125 million dollars raised in March, officials said. The proceeds will be used to finance up to 50,000 micro and small scale enterprises. The IFC itself gave 20 million US dollars […]

June 24, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank is to sell 5.0 billion rupees in debt with the lender’s long term domestic rating confirmed at ‘AA(lka)’ with a stable outlook. Its international rating was also confirmed at ‘B+’ with a stable outlook. Fitch said it had given a ‘AA-(lka)(EXP)’ rating to a proposed 5.0 […]

June 23, 2014 (LBO) – Upali Dharmadasa, managing director of Sri Lanka’s Nawaloka group has been appointed a director of Seylan Bank Plc.Dharmadasa has 32 years in corporate management, and is also chairman of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, the bank said in a statement. He is Managing Director of Nawaloka Piling, Nawaloka Timber Stores, Nawaloka […]