Category: Banking and Finance

Dec 11, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed a ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of HSBC Sri Lanka with a stable outlook, on the strength of its parent. The full statement is reproduced below: Fitch Affirms HSBC Sri Lanka Branch at ‘AAA(lka)’; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings-Colombo/Seoul/Singapore-10 December 2012: Fitch Ratings Lanka has affirmed HSBC Sri Lanka Branch’s […]

Dec 10, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banking secrecy laws may not be worth the paper it is written on and confidential information of customers could be easily obtained, a senior government minister said over the weekend. Fisheries Minister Raajitha Senaratne said the 117 ruling party legislators who signed the impeachment motion against Chief Justice […]

Dec 10, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ICICI Bank, a branch of an Indian bank with the same name, has seen its [SL] AAA credit rating confirmed by ICRA, a rating agency on support from the parent, comfortable capitalization and high sovereign asset holdings. “The credit strengths are partially offset by small scale of the […]

Dec 06, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s non-bank lenders should borrow abroad using newly relaxed rules to help boost resources available for investment, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabral said. “We would encourage you to access foreign funds, as well,” Cabraal told a forum of top finance company executives in Colombo this week. “Some of you […]

Dec 05, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing and Finance Plc, the country’s largest non bank lender is planning a 100 million US dollar syndicated loan to fund future expansion, officials said. Chief executive D P Kumarage said the lender was in talks with a Middle East based party to syndicate the loan, which […]

Dec 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon has been ranked among top 1,000 global banks by UK-based Banker magazine, the island’s largest lender said. Bank of Ceylon serves over ten million customers island wide and has a rating of ‘AA+(lka)’ from Fitch with a stable outlook. Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe said in […]

Dec 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will not issue new finance company licenses in the next two years but is urging weaker lenders to consolidate with larger stronger ones, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. “The Monetary Board (the Central Bank’s decision-making body) has taken a decision not to give new license in the […]

Nov 30, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed a BBB+(lka) rating of Sri Lanka’s Singer Finance (Lanka) Plc, with a stable outlook, based on an 80 percent holding and strong links with its parent, Singer (Sri Lanka) Plc, which is rated A(lka) with a stable outlook. In 2012 SFL’s portfolio has expanded 53 percent […]

Nov 30, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed a BB+(lka) rating of Sri Lanka’s Union Bank with a negative outlook, saying the lender faced risks to asset quality from strong growth but it had strong capital ratios. “Significant improvements to its risk management system and processes, including effective implementation of a core banking system […]

Nov 28, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank Plc, which came under state stewardship following a run is trying to recover 418 million rupees loaned to a public private partnership involving an Australia based party, a public notice shows. Seylan Bank in a notice published in Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror newspaper said it was […]

Nov 26, 2012 (LBO) – A new commercial bank promoted by Sri Lanka’s Cargills group will seek 3. 0 billion rupees through a private placement of shares in January 2013, a media report said. Sri Lanka’s The Island newspaper quoted Harris Premaratne, chief executive of Cargills Agriculture and Commercial Bank as saying that the lender […]

Nov 15, 2012 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank group fell 9. 1 percent to 1.04 billion rupees in the September 2012 quarter from a year earlier amid weaker fee income and foreign exchange losses, interim accounts showed. The group reported earnings of 6.46 rupees for the quarter. For the nine months to […]