Category: Banking and Finance

Feb 02, 2011 (LBO) – The Colombo Stock Exchange has approved a public share offer by Sri Lanka’s Union Bank to raise 375 million rupees by issuing 15 million ordinary shares at 25 rupees each, a statement said. CSE has approved in principal the application for listing on the main board of the bourse. The […]

Feb 02, 2011 (LBO) – The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has given a commercial banking license to Amana Bank, a statement said. Islamic banking is an emerging alternative to the interest-based banking practice and is gaining popularity across the world’s communities. “Amana Bank will be Sri Lanka’s first licensed commercial […]

Feb 02, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Fitch Ratings has today confirmed Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing Company’s long term rating of ‘A(lka)’ with a stable outlook on its potential support from its parent, state-run People’s Bank which is rated ‘AA-(lka)’. Fitch said PLC carries out the incremental leasing business of People’s Bank’s leasing business which […]

Feb 01, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing Finance (PLF), a unit of Peoples Leasing Company by one notch to ‘BBB(lka)’ with a stable outlook, on expected support from its ‘A(lka)’ parent which owns 93 percent of the firm. Fitch said support from the parent was now “more likely” than in the past as […]

Feb 01, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) Ltd has been rated ‘A’ by Ram Ratings on its strong market position and balance sheet against its dependency on the cyclicality of construction and government price controls. The long term rating has a ‘stable’ outlook. The firm’s short term credit has been rate […]

Jan 31, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Merchant Bank will not take over the assets and liabilities of a finance company whose shares it has acquired but will keep it separate and list in the stock market. PMB, a listed company said in a stock exchange filing that the decision was taken following instructions […]

Jan 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed The Finance Company, which is in a restructuring drive under regulatory supervision said it had raised 1. 6 billion from a share sale which had been oversubscribed. The Finance Company, earlier managed by the Ceylinco group offered 40 million shares at 40 rupees to raise capital. Depositors […]

Jan 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank said it intended to give stock options of up to three million shares to employees as a performance incentive if the bank reaches as yet undisclosed performance for 2011. The shares issued under the option plan would be 2.0 percent of the existing shares and will […]

Jan 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Arpico Finance Company’s long-term rating has been confirmed at BB and its outlook lifted ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on better asset quality and adequate capital, RAM Ratings said. Arpico Finance’s short-term rating has been confirmed at NP, RAM Ratings said. Outlook on the long-term rating has been revised to […]

Jan 26, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka chapter of US based Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) is promoting the adoption of Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) which is useful to attract foreign capital, an official said. The standards are checked by a ‘verifier’ usually an auditor. Rajiv Casie Chitty, the GIPS chair at CFA Sri […]

Jan 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s credit information office is planning a text message alert service by mobile phone for borrowers who forget to make credit card payments, an official said. The service is likely to be available by April. Sri Lanka has about four million borrowers. Gamini Karunaratne, general manager of the Sri […]

Jan 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will set up a common automated teller machine and payment card switch that will process transactions locally, eliminating the need for international routing of transactions between different banks, an official said. “Any firm registered outside Sri Lanka should have a local partner at the time of forwarding the […]