Category: Banking and Finance

Mar 22, 2013 (LBO) – The European Investment Bank will loan 90 million Euros to Sri Lanka which will be used to finance for renewable energy projects and small and medium enterprises, minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said.The balance will be given at averaged weighted deposit rate (6-months) for15 years with 3 year grace. DFCC Bank, Commercial […]

Mar 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will borrow 150 billion rupees (about 1.2 billion US dollars) from domestic banks to build 716.5 kilometers of roads through domestic contractors, information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said. The cabinet of ministers had approved the plan to borrow money through Treasury guarantees. Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority had earlier […]

Mar 20, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank has signed up medium term credit facilities from Chinese and French development finance institutions, managing director Aravinda Perera said. The bank grew loans 23.7 percent with the help of foreign finance topping an 18 percent ceiling imposed by the regulator for loans with domestic resources. Officials […]

TOKYO, March 18, 2013 (AFP) – The euro dived in Asia Monday as news that Cyprus would have to tax bank customers’ deposits as part of an EU bailout stoked eurozone fears, sending investors flocking to the safe-haven yen.In afternoon Tokyo trade, the euro sank to 121.77 yen from 124.61 yen in late New York […]

May 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank, which has more than two million customers, has launched a mobile banking platform to which it is planning to draw 300,000 users in the next three years, officials said.Rodrigo said from next month the service will allow transfers to accounts in other banks. Jonathan Alles, […]

Mar 11, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s larger listed banks have improved margins as interest rates rose in 2012 helped by a bigger current and savings deposits base and foreign borrowings, an equities research report said.At Commercial Bank foreign borrowings as a share of total funding had risen to 3.0 percent from 2.3 percent, at […]

Mar 09, 2013 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation, a private sector financing arm of the World Bank and DEG, a German development financier will buy 10 percent stock each in a new Sri Lankan commercial bank.Cargills Agriculture and Commercial Bank is being promoted by Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Theatres group. Sri Lanka’s CT Holdings and […]

Mar 08, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing and Finance said it will sell up to 6.0 billion rupees in 4 and 5-year listed debentures with subscriptions opening on March 19.Listed debentures have been made free of withholding tax, triggering a spurt of such issues. The 4-year debenture pays 16.5 percent a year, with […]

Mar 08, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is holding its main policy rates a little below annual inflation of 9.8 percent, expecting prices to ease from March and has asked banks to cut lending rates to boost growth. The Central Bank said in its March monetary policy statement that the repo rate at which excess […]

Mar 01, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank rose 41 percent to 3.1 billion rupees in the December 2013 quarter from a year earlier, helped by higher net interest income and fee income, interim accounts showed. The group reported earnings of 7.93 rupees per share for the quarter.In the year to […]

Feb 28, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank rose 48.2 percent to 1.3 billion rupees in the December 2012 quarter from a year earlier, accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. The group reported earnings of 8.20 rupees per share for the quarter. For the year to December the group reported […]

Feb 27, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s largest private lender, rose 22 percent to 2.4 billion rupees in the December 2012 quarter from a year earlier, helped by higher net interest income and lower provisions.The group reported earnings of 2.92 rupees per share for the quarter, in quarter accounts […]