Category: Banking and Finance

Mar 31, 2010 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it has assigned an ‘A-(lka)’ National Long-term rating to People’s Leasing Company Limited’s (PLC) proposed senior unsecured redeemable debentures of up to 630 million rupees. The rating agency said in a statement it has confirmed PLC’s national long-term rating at ‘A-(lka)’ with a stable outlook. The […]

Mar 30, 2010 (LBO) – Credit to Sri Lanka’s private borrowers from commercial banks was steady at 1,195. 8 billion rupees in January 2010 while loans in domestic currency rose slightly, the latest official data shows. Loans from rupee books of commercial bank rose to 1,048.7 billion rupees in January from 10,43. 8 billion a […]

Mar 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan banks will shift focus towards small and medium enterprises as well as the former north-east war zone while consolidation is needed to control costs and expand assets, a report said. “Banks to watch out for are those where management is forward thinking and empowered to mix traditional banking […]

Mar 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank has got a new chief executive, with the former being nominated as an opposition lawmaker and three directors expected to be replaced by nominees from government which now owns a big stake. It said this is “to enable certain shareholder interest to be represented on the […]

Mar 25, 2010 (LBO) – Commercial Bank has been declared Sri Lanka’s best bank in 2010 for the 12th year running by Global Finance magazine, the bank said in a statement. The US-based financial publication’s latest listing of the ˜Best Emerging Markets in Asia’ is to published in its May issue. The report covers the […]

Mar 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan government controlled funds bought chunks of Hatton Nation Bank on the Colombo bourse Thursday increasing their stake in the private listed bank to 25 percent of its voting rights, brokers said. “Now the government owns 25 percent of HNB,” the spokesman from Capital Trust Securities said. Sri Lanka […]

Mar 24, 2010 (LBO) – An initial public offer of shares by Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance is seen as being priced to a discount to market given its immediate earnings record, Capital Alliance, the issue’s placement agent, said. Vallibel Finance seeks to raise 114.4 million rupees by selling 5.2 million shares at 22 rupees each. […]

Mar 22, 2010 (LBO) – Banks can reduce credit risks by segmenting present and future customers into different credit risk pools using information technology, a senior official from International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation said. “We believe that there are three imperatives that are going to force financial institutions to think and act in fundamentally new […]

Mar 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-sector retirement funds plan to make “more aggressive” investments in the share market and less in Treasury bills and bonds, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal has been quoted as saying. The funds have also been giving negative real rates of return for most years as interest rates on […]

Mar 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance will use cash raised from an initial public offering (IPO) to reduce financing costs and expand leasing and hire purchase businesses and its branch network, a senior official said. “We were planning to come to the market in another two to three years but we came […]

Mar 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has launched a credit refinance scheme to help small and medium enterprises which are in difficulty to recover, senior officials said. The 100 percent refinance scheme through banks will give loans at eight percent up to a maximum of 20million rupees to help existing firms recover, […]

Mar 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan finance companies should reach out to rural areas which historically have been short of credit, governor of the Central Bank, Nivard Cabraal, said. Rural savers are also known to make deposits at unregulated finance companies that offer high interest rates but risk making heavy losses if the firms […]