Category: Banking and Finance

Jan 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has granted bail to the chief executive and a director of the failed Golden Key Credit Card Company and ordered more asset seizers to repay depositors, a media report said. The Sunday Island newspaper said Kavan Perera, chief executive of Golden Key and Saradha Sumanasekera, director […]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday the US central bank should keep its role as a regulator of the banking system as a way to promote financial market stability. Bernanke added that the Fed “cannot and should not” be responsible for regulating the entire financial system, which including nonbanking firms such […]

Jan 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance company profits would pick up in 2010 as deposit rates falls, helping offset some credit losses, but asset quality may remain until the economy strengthens, Fitch Ratings has said. A recent sharp fall in bank deposit and lending rates had now started to spread to the finance […]

Jan 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it will make another part-payment to depositors of Golden Key Credit Card Company, subject to a maximum of 100,000 rupees. A Central Bank statement said arrangements had been made to make part payment of security deposits of 2,506 Golden Key cardholders whose balances are between […]

Jan 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank intends to monitor more closely banking sector group companies to improve its supervision of financial institutions, Governor Nivard Cabraal said. The move is part of several measures being taken to better regulate the financial sector after several institutions, both regulated and unregulated, got into trouble in […]

Jan 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it has raised the ceiling on interest rates paid by registered finance companies and also allowed them to pay extra interest to senior citizens over 60 years from January 1. In revising the interest rates, the Monetary Board has considered the declining trend in market […]

Jan 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said a new mandatory deposit insurance scheme to be introduced this year will cover up to 100,000 rupees per depositor. Coverage would increase as the deposit insurance fund grows, governor Nivard Cabraal said in a statement on its financial sector policies for 2010. The deposit insurance […]

Dec 24, 2009 (LBO) – Rating agency Fitch confirmed Union Bank of Colombo Limited’s long term rating of ‘BB+(lka), reflecting the bank’s moderate asset quality and lack of a broad deposit base. Several equity infusions occurred between 2003 and 2007 from both existing and new shareholders, which increased equity to 1.5 billion rupees as at […]

Dec 24, 2009 (LBO) – Pan Asia Bank had its long term national rating of BBB-(lka), which carries a stable outlook, confirmed by Fitch Ratings Lanka. PABC, is a small licensed commercial bank established in 1995, and is 35.3 percent owned by Mr. K.D.D. Perera and related parties. It operates through a branch network of […]

Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Fitch Ratings has lifted the outlook on the ‘BBB+(lka)’ rating on Housing Development Corporation Bank (HDFC) to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ citing a hiking of rates to counter interests rates risk. The rating agency also confirmed a ‘BBB+(lka)’ rating on a 250 million rupees senior debenture. The rating took […]

Dec 18, 2009 (LBO) – The long term rating of People’s Merchant Finance Company has been upgraded from B+ to BBB-, on the strength of its t company Peoples Bank. PMB has also announced a rights issue for which its parent has already pledged support. It intends to raise 250 million rupees to retire its […]

Dec 17, 2009 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed the long term rating of Bartleet Finance Limited at BBB- and its short term rating at P3, but its outlook has been cut to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’. RAM said the outlook cut was due to higher defaults in some loans segments that have pressured the […]