Category: Banking and Finance

Apr 23, 2012 (LBO) – Mohan Pieris, a former attorney general of Sri Lanka has been appointed chairman of Seylan Bank, a listed bank which was put under a state management following a run. Seylan Bank said he has 37 years of experience as lawyer. In 1978 he qualified as a solicitor of the supreme […]

April 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s biggest lender, state-owned Bank of Ceylon, has reported a sharp increase in the profits of its two overseas branches in neighbouring south India and the Maldives last year. Bank of Ceylon group after tax profit in 2011 was 11. 5 billion rupees, up 66 percent from 2010. Deposits […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Vajira Kulatilaka, head of investment banking at Sri Lanka’s NDB group has been given an award by the Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA), the bank said. NDB said Kulatilaka has led teams that completed breaking deals, which propelled NDB Investment Bank to a top position and he also […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Commercial Bank said Sri Lankans planning to celebrate the traditional new year last week had withdrawn a record amount of cash from its automated teller machines. Its ATMs dispensed 7.6 billion rupees in the week preceding the new year on April 14 with an all-time single-day high of 1.6 billion […]

Apr 19, 2012 (LBO) – Vajira Kulatilaka, chief executive of NDB Group Investment Banking Cluster, was recently awarded the Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award for business and professional achievements. He is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK (FCMA) and a CFA Charter holder. “He was awarded […]

Apr 18, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has been given a ‘B1’ rating by Moody’s Investors services ahead of planned bond sale in international capital markets with a ‘stable’ outlook. The agency rated the bank’s local currency deposits ‘B1/NP’, foreign currency deposits: ‘B2/NP’ and foreign currency senior unsecured debt ‘B1’. […]

Apr 17, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has assigned Sri Lanka’s Bank of Ceylon (BOC) long-term foreign- and local-currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of ‘BB-‘ with stable outlooks. Fitch has also confirmed BOC’s national long-term rating and its outstanding subordinated debentures at ‘AA+(lka)’ with a stable outlook and ‘AA(lka)’, a statement said. Fitch has also […]

Mar 29, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Banking Corporation (PABC) said its chairman A G Weerasinghe will step down from April 02 and will be replaced by Nimal Perera. Weerasinghe will remain a director. Eshana De Silva has been appointed deputy chairman and Anthony page as senior director also from April 02, the […]

Mar 28, 2012 (LBO) – International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank said it is training Sri Lankan bankers in trade finance to help provide better services to customers to interact with the global markets. During the training program, participants were taught how to structure basic and complex trade finance transactions, improving risk […]

Mar 23, 2012 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed Bartleet Finance Limited’s long- and short-term financial institution ratings at BBB- and P3 but revised the outlook to negative from stable, a statement said. At the same time, the long-term issue rating of BFL’s 204 million rupee unsubordinated unsecured redeemable debenture has also been confirmed […]

Mar 23, 2012 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has given People’s Leasing Company’s proposed commercial paper issue of up to a billion rupees an ‘F1(lka)’ National Short-term rating. PLC itself is rated ‘A+(lka)’ with a stable outlook, a statement said. “The proposed issuance will be utilised to finance PLC’s working capital / lending.” Of the […]

Mar 22, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s licensed finance companies have revived but asset quality is expected to be pressured with rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, RAM Ratings said in a report on the sector. But in future, RAM Ratings said the industry’s asset quality is expected to be pressured, testing the strength of […]