Category: Banking and Finance

May 05, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves rose to 8.3 billion US dollars in February 2014, from 8.04 billion US dollars in January, official data showed. The Central Bank said worker remittance rose 8.8 percent to 1,057 million US dollars, tourism earnings rose 37.9 percent to 416.8 million US dollars and there were […]

May 05, 2014 (LBO) – Payments to ports in Sri Lanka by shippers can be made online, speeding up imports and exports, Sampath Bank, a private lender in the island said.Shippers who are not Sampath customers could make payments by visiting a super grade branch fro 8.00 am to 8.00 pm including holiday, the bank […]

May 01, 2014 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank group rose 3.3 percent to 526 million rupees in the March 2014 quarter from a year earlier, helped by lower interest expenses, despite falling credit growth, interim accounts showed. The group reported earnings of 1.53 rupees per share. The stock closed at 64.00 rupees, […]

May 01, 2014 (LBO) – All banks and non bank lenders in Sri Lanka directed by the regulator have given broad plans on a consolidation and some are in talks on acquisitions or mergers, the Central Bank said.Several non bank lenders within business groups have been given the nod to merge. Banks and large non-bank […]

Apr 22, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dunamis Capital Plc, had been rated ‘BBB+’ with a ‘stable’ outlook and a proposed debt billion rupee debt sale ‘BBB’ by Colombo based Ram Ratings Lanka Plc. Dunamis has interests in primary dealing, stock brokering, margin trading, debt structuring, asset management and property development. The full statement is […]

Apr 22, 2014 (LBO) – Melsta Regal Finance Ltd, a young finance company promoted by Sri Lanka’s Distilleries group said it has expanded into Central, North Central and Southern regions of the country.The firm offers working capital finance with Letter of Credit opening facilities, warehousing, logistics and debt factoring as well as equipment and vehicle […]

Apr 21, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs private equity to play a bigger role in financing business which will help them grow faster with less leverage and become world beating firms, the Central Bank said. Financial sector professionals have attributed it to lack of skills of those who were taken to manage them, some […]

Apr 21, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon said customers withdrew a record 2.05 billion rupees from teller machines on Friday April 11, a new daily high in the run up to a traditional New Year holiday. The number transactions processed was 245,000 lower than a previous record of 325,000 which the […]

Apr 12, 2014 (LBO) – International Finance Corporation, a World Bank arm said it will invest 10 million US dollars in Emerald Sri Lanka Fund I, a 50 million US dollar private equity fund focused on the island.The fund will be run NDB Zephyr Partners, a joint venture between by New York based Zephyr Management […]

Apr 11, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’ National Development Bank Plc said it sold out of Maldives Finance Leasing Company for 1.1 million US dollars. NDB itself is curently in talks to merge with DFCC Bank, another Sri Lanka based lender. A 35 percent stake in the firm had been sold to Tree Top Investments […]

Apr 11, 2014 (LBO) – York Street Partners (Pvt) Ltd, a Sri Lanka based boutique investment advisory firm had won a competition held by Harvard Business School, leading the region.In this journey, York Street Partners has succeeded in attracting and unifying Sri Lankan talent with international capital market experience working in organizations such as Goldman […]

Apr 09, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lankan firms have got the nod to borrow 335 million US dollars abroad 2013 by the Central Bank, while debt markets also supplanted bank loans in 2013, as commercial bank credit to private firms slowed, an official said. Analysts say it is important to allow for a period of […]