Category: Banking and Finance

Sept 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will increase minimum capital requirements of banks to increase their resilience to shocks and also require unlisted private banks to list on the Colombo bourse, the Central Bank said. This was to meet “the need for enhancing the ability of banks to raise additional capital in a more […]

Sept 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Acuity and Millennium Capital Management (MCM) Holdings of Maldives is partnering to provide investment banking services in the archipelago with deals worth 55 million US dollars in the pipeline, officials said. Acuity, a unit of Sri Lanka’s listed DFCC Bank and Hatton National Bank is working with MCM […]

Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – The outlook on Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank’s ‘AA-(lka)’ ratinghs been lifted to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on improving risk management ahead of other banks, Fitch Ratings has said. Its subordinated debenture rating (one notch lower) reflected the relatively lower recovery prospects for investors of this instrument compared to the bank’s senior […]

Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank, a big private listed commercial bank, plans to hire more executives from Sri Lanka’s north-east former war zone as it moves to increase lending in agriculture, an official said. Rajendra Theagarajah, chief executive of the private listed Hatton National Bank, said the new hiring scheme is based […]

Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it has started an overdraft facility backed by gold at 15 percent a year for current account holders, which the bank said is lower than the rate on regular overdrafts. “The Gold Overdraft is an ideal solution for those who invest in the stock market, […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan banker has urged a shift to loans based on cash-flows, not assets, and more lending to people in the north-east of money mopped up by new branches in the former war zone. Rajendra Theagarajah, chief executive of the private listed Hatton National Bank, said banks should […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – The state-owned Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) seeks to merge with two units of its parent Bank of Ceylon group, a stock exchange filing said. It said a proposal is being considered to merge Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka and Ceylease Finance Services with Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka […]

Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry chief lashed out at the country’s cautious banks which are reluctant to engage in risky lending and also slammed a credit information office, labeling it ‘infamous’. “The associated risks and the mismatch in asset and liabilities of these institutions have imposed a severe burden to their […]

Aug 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Bank said net profits rose 54 percent to 50 million rupees in the half year to June 2010 from a year ago as margins improved and that it plans to have more branches. Interest income fell 10 percent to 858 million rupees while interest expenses fell at […]

Aug 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sanasa Development Bank (SDB), a small lender from the co-operative movement, has retained its ‘BBB’ local long term rating with a stable outlook, RAM Ratings Lanka said. “Despite its high-risk target market, SDB has been able to maintain its better-than-industry asset quality, supported by its stringent credit evaluation […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – National Development Bank (NDB) June quarter profits fell 17. 9 percent to 434.7 million rupees, due to a fall in fee-based incomes, while personal, premises and operating costs have gone up, a stock exchange filing said. NDB group’s interest income had come down 16. 4 percent to 2.45 billion rupees, […]

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) – India’s Mahindra and Mahindra group plans to enter Sri Lanka’s financial sector, especially the rural areas, officials said. There were “imminent opportunities in financial services’, said Ramesh Iyer, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services. “Capital is not a constraint in terms of wanting to grow in Sri Lanka. […]