Category: Banking and Finance

Aug 31, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s corporate debt market is generating green shoots with rates coming down, lenders gaining confidence and credit spreads narrowing, officials said.“We are seeing the first securitizations transactions after the absence of more than six to eight months,” says Ajith Fernando, head of Capital Alliance Holdings. “Corporate debt markets are […]

Aug 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Citibank, which had reported around 22 billion rupees of bad loans following a defaulted derivative sold to a state-run oil distributor, has taken the number off its balance sheet in the June 2009 accounts.In March 2008, the bank reported 22.6 billion rupees classified as ‘other loans’ among non-performing […]

Aug 28, 2009 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has upgraded the long-term rating of LB Finance (LBF) by one notch to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘ with a ‘stable’ outlook and its short term ‘P3’ rating has been confirmed. LBF’s return on assets (ROA) rose to 4.49 percent by March 2009 (end-March 2008: 4.01 percent) and return […]

Aug 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank said the Colombo stock exchange has approved its application to list new ordinary shares in an effort to raise fresh capital.Seylan Bank was brought under the supervision of the banking regulator, the Central Bank, after it faced a run following the collapse of an unlisted Ceylinco […]

Aug 24, 2009 (LBO) – Following the resignation of PABC chief executive Kimarli Fernando, deputy general manager has been appointed acting chief executive “with immediate effect,” the bank said in a stock exchange filing.Fernando had resigned with the effect from November 23, 2009, the statement said. Fernando joined PABC from the Colombo branch of Standard […]

Aug 24, 2009 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon group grew 82. 1 percent to 1,832 million rupees from a year earlier, on strong net interest growth and forex income, despite higher loan losses, interim June 2009 quarter accounts showed. Deposits grew 13.7 percent to 361.2 billion rupees from the beginning […]

Aug 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank, a unit of John Keells Holdings has shaken up the top management of the bank shortly after an 800 million rupee foreign exchange loss was discovered. The bank was also being probed by Sri Lanka’s securities watchdog. Update II Saliya Rajakaruna, retiring chief financial officer […]

Aug 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company, a unit of the troubled Ceylinco group, said it lost 693 million rupees in the June 2009 quarter as net interest income remained negative and loan loss provisions continued to rise. The company had made a net profit of 45 million rupees in the same […]

Aug 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank group profits grew 45.7 percent to 529.7 million rupees in the June 2009 quarter from a year earlier, on revenues that grew 22.5 percent to 3.79 billion rupees, the company said.Deposits grew 24 percent to 38.5 billion rupees from 31.0 billion in December. NDB group gross […]

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said group profits rose 2.7 percent to 1,122.1 million rupees in the June 2009 quarter from a year earlier, while revenues rose 2.0 percent to 11.0 billion. Interest income fell 1.3 percent to 8.96 billion, interest expenses rose 1.8 percent to 6.12 billion rupees, causing interest […]

Aug 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it has promoted six officers as Assistant Governor with effect from August 10, 2009. The officers are W M Karunaratne, P Liyanage , J P Mampitiya, C K Nanayakkara, B D W A Silva and P N Weerasinghe. “These promotions have been made in line […]

Aug 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banking regulator said it intends to regulate and closely supervise payment card service providers almost a year after the collapse of one firm triggered a crisis in a local conglomerate. The Central Bank said in a statement that use of payment cards, such as credit cards, debit cards […]