Category: Banking and Finance

Nov 16, 2010 (LBO) – Chennai-based Indian Bank’s Sri Lanka branch will open new branches in former war torn areas and is looking to double its loan book over the next two and a half years, a top official said. Indian Bank has been in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo since 1932 and has mainly been […]

Nov 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank said September 2010 quarter group net profit rose 31 percent to 808 million rupees from a year ago as non-interest income rose and interest expenses fell faster than costs. The performance of NDB’s investment banking cluster showed “significant improvement” over the corresponding period last year, […]

Nov 11, 2010 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has assigned long- and short-term ratings of AAA and P1 to Sri Lanka’s state-owned People’s Bank (PB) with a stable outlook, a statement said. “PB’s investment portfolio is deemed to be of low risk as it is dominated by government securities, which constituted 99.34 percent of its […]

Nov 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon has beefed up its investment banking unit and is looking to win new business as the government is planning to sell down commercial enterprises in the stock market, a top official said. “The investing banking division will engage in equity participation, mergers and acquisitions, […]

Nov 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank’s net profits were down 36 percent to 823 million rupees in the September 2010 quarter from a year earlier amid lower interest rates and profits of Commercial Bank, an associate, no longer being consolidated. Group gross loans and advances were flat at 54. 5 billion rupees […]

Nov 04, 2010 (LBO) – Commercial Bank said it expanded its money transfer service and will deploy banking officers in Saudi Arabia to handle remittances from migrant Sri Lankans working in the kingdom. The bank said in a statement its customer base in Saudi Arabia was growing and money transfer services can be obtained via […]

Nov 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Asian Finance Ltd, a former Ceylinco group company will be sold to a Malaysian investor who is putting 200 million rupees in to the company, its parent, listed Nations Lanka Finance said. Tiong King Sing, a Malaysian national, had injected 200 million rupees to the firm and will […]

Nov 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced an immediate reduction in the interest rate applicable on all credit cards issued by the bank, a statement said. This reduction is in line with the trend of reducing lending rates, and is even less than the 24 percent rate requested by […]

Nov 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank (NTB) said net profit for the September 2010 quarter rose 104 percent to 354 million rupees from a year ago as interest margins improved and bad loans fell. Interest income fell 10 percent to 2.6 billion rupees and interest costs fell at a faster 32 […]

Nov 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Singer Finance Ltd is planning to raise 400 million rupees in an initial public offering by selling 25 percent of its shares to the public, a stock exchange filing said. Singer Finance has 106.6 million shares in issue and it will sell 26.6 million shares at 15 rupees […]

Oct 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon has reported profits of 1. 4 billion rupees for the September 2010 quarter, up 46 percent from a year earlier, on stronger interest margins and loan growth. Revenues rose 0.2 percent to 10.55 billion rupees. The bank reported earnings per share of 3. 75 […]

Oct 30, 2010 (LBO) – A new Sri Lankan investment fund that opened for subscription Friday is targeting the banking sector which is seen doing well given the need for funding to fuel an economic boom, officials said. “We expect many new projects to need financing in the fast growing sectors of the economy. ” […]