Category: Banking and Finance

June 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon (CBC) has inked a deal with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to underwrite 50 percent of the investment risk in the volatile renewable energy business, a senior bank official said. IFC is sharing the risk in renewable energy projects with us, said Amitha Gooneratne, […]

June 5, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) is the sole bidder for a 33 percent stake in Seylan Bank offered by the Central Bank to a strategic partner that can inject equity to the firm, market sources said. “In response to the invitation for fresh bids by the Central Bank […]

June 04, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon is providing banking services for refugees in several camps in the north of the island to get financial help from their relatives, a top official said.Nearly 300,000 people held as a human shield by the Tamil Tigers before they were defeated last month are […]

June 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Bank said it had slashed its interest rate on credit cards to 30 percent a year from 42 percent to ease repayment difficulties and the burden on consumers whose spending has declined.The bank also noted how other countries like the USA, are taking action to reform […]

June 02, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank (NDB) group net profit went up 30 percent to 455 million rupees in the quarter ended March 31, 2009 despite the adverse economic conditions, while bad loan provisions increased. Total group income roe 18 percent to 3.6 billion rupees, the bank said in a statement. […]

June 02, 2009 (LBO) – The auditors of Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank have qualified its 2008 accounts over related party transactions and flagged overdue loans as the regulator looks for a strategic partner to bring in new capital. KPMG Ford, Rhodes, Thornton & Company said they could not confirm the completeness of the related party […]

June 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFCC Vardhana Bank said it had launched a credit card targeting high-end customers and to improve access despite difficult market conditions owing to lower consumer spending and high taxes.“We’re now moving towards a cashless society and the bank has started by introducing credit cards,” DFCC group chairman Rajan […]

May 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) said it made a loss in the March 2009 quarter amid rising interest expenses and sharp falls in interest and fee-based income. The bank made a loss of 52 million rupees in the three months ending March 31, 2009 compared with a […]

May 29, 2009 (LBO) – A central bank supported credit scheme to help war-affected Sri Lankans will not use printed money, but cash from a revolving credit facility separately managed by the monetary authority, a top official said. Sri Lanka’s central bank is planning a re-finance to jump-start lending to the war-affected so that they […]

May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has confirmed an ‘AA-(lka)’ rating assigned to a mortgage backed security issued by Sri Lanka’s HDFC Bank. Fitch said the outlook of the rating on the 82.6 million rupee HDFC Home Loan Securitisation Trust 2005 – Sri Lanka’s (HLST) was ‘stable’. The security was given a Loss […]

May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Citibank unit’s March 2009 quarter profits were down 41.7 percent to 230.6 million rupees on sharply lower fee income, though the net interest margins were up, published accounts showed. Interest income was up 14.5 percent to 756.8 million rupees, while interest expense was down 12.1 percent to 208.0 […]

May 28, 2009 (LBO) – Ceylinco Finance, a listed firm in the Ceylinco group, says it is re-structuring itself under the guidance of a veteran banker to focus on leasing, and is planning to ask for a finance company license. N B S B Balalle, a former chief executive of state-run National Savings Bank, has […]