Category: Banking and Finance

June 27, 2012 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation, is working with Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank to help up to 30,000 small business owners become more competitive through a series of advisory interventions, sharpening their readiness to access new markets. IFC said its advisory assistance has helped the bank to strengthen its institutional capacity […]

June 26, 2012 (LBO) – Standard and Poor’s, a rating agency has released a document answering potential investor queries following the release of a Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment. The full statement is reproduced below: Understanding Standard & Poor’s BICRA Assessment Of Sri Lanka Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services recently assigned Sri Lanka to its […]

June 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state banks, two insurers and a state airport agency are among the top contributors to the budget by levies and dividends a finance ministry report showed. State-run National Savings Bank paid 4,560 million as levies, the Peoples’ Bank 4,500 million rupees and Bank of Ceylon 4,500 million rupees. […]

June 26, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Sri Lanka revised Sinhaputhra Finance PLC’s outlook upwards to ˜stable’ from ˜negative’ on improvements in its credit risk management practices. The outlook revision and affirmation reflects¦ subsequent stabilisation and enhancement in its asset quality, although the latter still remains weaker than its peers’ average, the risk evaluator said […]

June 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank PLC secured a A+(lka) for its upcoming 2.5 billion rupees debenture from Fitch Ratings Sri Lanka. The five-year debt paper is expected to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, and will be used to beef up Sampath’s Tier II capital, Fitch said on Tuesday. Full […]

June 22, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks have to be ready to finance infrastructure when the state is expected to woo private capital into toll roads and ports in the next few years, an investment banker said. Several foreign firms have made proposals. The government is already tapping commercial banks for infrastructure finance through […]

June 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has denied that there was a regulatory conflict where a fund under its control bought bank stocks it regulated, following concerns raised by Standard and Poor’s, a rating agency. S & P said there were regulatory conflicts because the Monetary Board or the governing body of […]

June 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banking sector did not face high risks as assessed by Standard & Poor’s, the island’s Central Bank said in a detailed response to the rating agency’s ranking of Sri Lanka as a high risk economy for banks. The Central Bank said S & P’s statement was “is factually […]

June 19, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon and Bank of America Merrill Lynch had clinched awards for the best bank and best foreign investment bank for Sri Lanka given by Finance Asia, a financial magazine. It also did a large equity investment banking deal arranging the sale of a stake worth […]

June 19, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banking industry faces ‘very high’ economic and credit risk and the industry itself faces “very high risk” in its institutional framework amid regulatory conflicts, a rating agency has said. Standard & Poor’s, a rating agency gave Sri Lanka a score of ‘8’ on a scale where the highest […]

June 18, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon, the island’s largest commercial bank has topped a trillion rupees (7. 6 billion US dollars) in assets by the end of May 2012, officials said. Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe said a target for one trillion in assets and ten billion rupees in profits was set […]

June 11, 2012 (LBO) – Loans to private borrowers from commercial banks collapsed to just 18. 7 billion rupees in April 2012, from 55 billion rupees a month earlier, the lowest since June 2010, amid heavy state borrowing, official data showed. Loans to private borrowers from banks rose 34 percent from a year earlier to […]