Category: Banking and Finance

June 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said banks have been given the nod to open 67 new outlets in the last three weeks in the north of the island after the area was freed of Tamil Tigers. “This trend of banking expansion in the Northern Province is expected to grow with the […]

June 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon is planning to finance renewable power plants in Africa with the help of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an official said. Commercial Bank officials did not say who their engineering partners in Uganda would be. In July 2007 Sri Lankan power company Eco Power […]

June 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company, a unit of the troubled Ceylinco group said it lost 1.3 billion rupees in the March 2009 quarter, as net interest income turned negative and loan loss provisions increased. Investment in real estate was shown as 5,256 million rupees, investments in housing projects 1,140 million […]

June 8, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank group said profits fell 99.8 percent to 135,279 rupees in the March 2009 quarter, non performing loans grew steeply and net-interest income fell as its balance sheet contracted. Group net assets were up 1.6 percent to 9,519 million rupees. Gross assets shrank 7.5 percent to 151.7 […]

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 […]