Category: Banking and Finance

June 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s RAM Ratings has given a ‘BBB+’ long term financial enhancement rating to Construction Guarantee Fund (CGF) saying it has state backing though vulnerable to the volatility of the industry and has no re-insurance as yet. Guarantees are given without any collateral, by evaluating the contractors’ capabilities against the […]

June 23, 2010 (LBO) – Si lanka’s Central Bank has promoted four officers as assistant governors from June 15 as part of the bank’s succession plan, a statement said. The new assistant governors are Y A de Silva, W M Hemachandra, S Lankathilake, and C J P Siriwardena. Y A de Silva, a former Director […]

June 22, 2010 (LBO) – Loans to private borrowers from Sri Lanka’s commercial banks grew at a slower rate in April compared with March while foreign currency loans fell, latest Central Bank data shows. Credit to the private sector rose 7. 6 billion rupees to 1,242.7 billion rupees in April compared with March, when it […]

June 20, 2010 (LBO) – Lankaputhra Development Bank, a state bank set up to fulfill an election promise, has increased its bad loans to 55. 9 percent in 2009, from 19.2 percent a year earlier, a government report has revealed. Lankaputhra or ‘sons of the Lanka’ bank was set up to fill a supposed lack […]

June 14, 2010 (LBO) –Indian Bank’s March quarter profits rose 32.4 percent to 296.3 million rupees on lower operating costs and reversals on provisions, while net interest margins shrank from lower interest income and dud loans rose, its accounts showed. In the March 2010 quarter, the Sri Lankan unit of Indian Bank said interest income […]

June 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Citizens Development Business Finance says it has maintained profitability and managed non performing loans last year in a tough operating environment and is now looking to expand. The firm has changed its financial year from December to March and posted revenues of 1.9 billion rupees for the 15 […]

June 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank has opened a branch in the former war zone of northern Jaffna whose economy is reviving with the end of the conflict. The bank said in a statement the branch, its 40th in the island, will provide residents in the north extended banking hours 365 […]

June 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan banker Nilam Jayasinghe, a former chief of the Sri Lanka branch of CIMA, a UK accounting body, has been elected to its global council for a three year term. Jayasinghe, who is vice president finance planning and treasury at Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank will represent South Asia in […]

NEW YORK, June 3, 2010 (AFP) – Credit rating agencies came under fire for their role in the global financial crisis Wednesday, as US investigators grilled senior industry figures, including mega-investor Warren Buffett. Answering allegations that rating firms helped propel the sale of risky investments that poisoned the global financial system, senior officials from Moody’s […]

June 02, 2010 (LBO) – A 9.8 percent slice of Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon was sold by 30 percent shareholder DFCC Bank to a foreign buyer for 5.8 billion rupees, brokers said. The 9.988 percent stake in Commercial Bank falls short of the 10 percent regulatory limit on bank shareholding set by the […]

June 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company (TFC) cash flows have turned positive after a run on deposits in early 2009 and its real estate business has returned to profitability on higher sales, a senior official “The company has returned to normal and has a positive cash flow now,” Kamal Yatawara, chief […]

May 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks have started to issue new credit cards ending a steady contraction seen during 2009, amid an overall growth in commercial bank loans to private businesses this year, official data show. In March 2010, bank credit to businesses rose 23 billion rupees, the strongest monthly growth since credit […]