Category: Banking and Finance

Jan 08, 2014 (LBO) – HSBC said it had helped sell the sixth Sri Lanka sovereign bond with the latest one billion US dollar 5-year bond.“Counting over 120 years in Sri Lanka, we are the only bank to have consecutively partnered the Government of Sri Lanka on all of its sovereign bond issuances since 2007,” […]

Jan 02, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted a 100 percent cash margin requirement to import cars with immediate effect, as the exchange rate came under appreciating pressure, and the monetary authority held it down.The Central Bank said the restriction imposed on August 30, 2013 has been removed. The monetary authority has been buying […]

Jan 02, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank is expecting two development banks and smaller state banks to be merged, Governor Nivard Cabraal said.National Savings Bank, another state bank will have to broaden their services, he said. New foreign banks setting up in Sri Lanka will also have to be locally incorporated. At the […]

Jan 02, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance companies will be encouraged to merge with each other and banks and outside investors will be invited in a bid to strengthen capital deficient ones, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. The regulator would like to see 58 non-bank financial institutions consolidated into 20 larger ones, he […]

Dec 24, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Amana Bank has received 1. 5 billion rupees of subscription for its initial public offer and would close on December 24, registrars to the issue said. The bank offered 214.3 million shares at 7.0 rupees and a further 71.5 million shares if the first tranche was fully taken […]

Dec 24, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka’s Multi Finance Plc, a registered finance company by two levels to ‘B-(lka)’ on rising non performing loans. The firm was also place on negative watch at the new rating level. Fitch said the firm’s unprovided loan losses exceeded equity. Sri Lanka’s economy has been […]

Dec 19, 2013 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka’s Union Bank of Colombo Plc by one notch to ‘BB(lka)’ on rising non-performing loans. The outlook was revised to stable from negative at the lower rating. “The downgrade reflects the deterioration in UB’s credit profile, in terms of its asset quality and capitalisation,” the […]

Dec 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s commercial bank credit to the state surged in October 2013 following a net payback in September, while credit to business also rose, official data showed. Sri Lanka is recovering from a balance of payments crisis, which was originally fired by central bank credit injections to the banking system […]

Dec 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC unit said its payment processing service can be linked to enterprise resource planning software of clients boosting productivity and reducing errors. HSBC said it had integrated its payment processing and cash management system HSBC Connect to SAP Lite (C2SAP Lite) at MAS Active, a top apparel manufacturer […]

Dec 02, 2013 (LBO) – Sunil Wijesinghe, an accountant and senior executive who had managed and chaired a number of private and public organizations has been appointed chairman of National Development Bank.Wijesinghe replaces Hemaka Amarasuriya. He is currently chairman of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, President National Chamber of Commerce and President of Sri Lanka […]

Nov 29, 2013 (LBO) – LankaClear, Sri Lanka’s interbank clearing house, said a new backbone is being developed to integrate multiple networks, which will speed up transactions and allow mobile-enabled payments.The firm recently launched LankaPay a switch that connected automated teller machines of different banks. “LankaPay CAS is a precursor to the launch of the […]

Nov 29, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry had run an overdraft of 120.9 billion rupees at banks by September 2013 which was about 1.2 percent of gross domestic product, official data showed. Though the gap was higher than the 98.1 billion rupees deficit in September 2012 it was lower than 144.5 billion rupee […]