Category: Banking and Finance

Dec 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank has begun issuing chip-integrated credit and shopping debit cards under the Visa brand, a statement said. The service of Oberthur Technologies was obtained for the provision of chip cards and chip card personalisation software while equipment provided by Datacard was used for card personalisation. The chip […]

Dec 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s loans to private citizens from commercial banks grew 15. 5 percent to 1,361.5 billion rupees in September from a year earlier while credit to government grew at a slower 6. 8 percent. After contracting in 2009, credit to private business had grown 165 billion rupees. In the month […]

Dec 02, 2010 (LBO) – Singer Finance (Lanka), a subsidiary of the Sri Lankan unit of the Singer multinational, plans to raise 400 million rupees by offering 26. 66 million shares at 15 rupees each, officials said. The Colombo stock market has been on a bull run this year, hitting record highs, although prices have […]

Dec 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC unit is seeing a steep increase in corporate lending as the island recovers from a 30-year war and the country is re-building infrastructure, an official said. “Corporate banking has grown 30 percent from January to October,” HSBC chief executive Nick Nicolaou said. “Though people say banks aren’t […]

Nov 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank (NTB) ‘A (lka)’ long term rating has been confirmed with a ‘stable’ outlook, Fitch Ratings Lanka said. Fitch has also confirmed an ‘A(lka)’ on a 500 million senior debenture and an ‘A-(lka)’ rating on a billion rupees subordinated debenture. The banks loans books contain a […]

Nov 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank will support friendly mergers of banks, which can be difficult due to existing regulations, a media report said. Banks – especially those catering to different classes of risk – are needed to finance small and medium businesses. “We have had some feelers and have discussed it […]

Nov 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC branch’s ‘AAA(lka)’ long term rating has been confirmed with a ‘stable’ outlook backed by the ‘AA’ rating of Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Fitch Ratings Lanka said. By end June, the Sri Lanka branch of HSBC had increased its loan book 6.4 percent after contracting 12.4 […]

Nov 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has signed a deal with the central bank in Bangladesh to share financial information in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing, a statement said. “Money laundering and terrorist financing are often internationally connected activities,” the statement said. “Financial intelligence authorities also need to be internationally organized […]

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has allowed residents to buy stocks abroad and foreign investors have been allowed to buy into local corporate debt and insurers have been given permission to invest up to 20 percent of their reserves abroad. The exchange control relaxations are in effect from November 22, the government said […]

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan banks should provide more long-term loans and tax cuts in the government budget for 2011 are meant to encourage longer maturity lending, finance ministry secretary P B Jayasundera said. Key sectors of the economy like tea and rubber, where cultivators must wait several years for the first harvests, […]

NEW YORK, November 18, 2010 (AFP) – A sophisticated Malaysian cyber bandit hacked into the US Federal Reserve’s computers and also stole nearly half a million credit and debit card numbers, US prosecutors in New York said. Brian Parr, the head of the Secret Service’s New York office, said cyber crimes “not only affect our […]

Nov 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon will start a branch that will stay open 24 hours to support government efforts to expand night economic activities in Colombo, an official said. The branch in Colombo’s Fort areas is expected to start on November 19, chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe said. The government legalized […]