Category: Banking and Finance

April 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has cleared five out of six parties who expressed interest in buying a 33.3 percent stake in Seylan Bank to look into the bank in detail and submit bids, officials said. The Central Bank took over the bank and put it under the supervision of state-run […]

April 21, 2009 (LBO) – Low transaction costs and timely delivery is critical for micro-finance to be effective in lifting poor people out of poverty, a senior Sri Lankan central bank official said.“Experience tells us that micro-finance alone is not enough to eliminate poverty because it only satisfies the funding needs of micro enterprises,” central […]

April 20, 2009 (LBO) – A number of prospective buyers interested in Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank have tied up with foreign partners to bid for a 33 percent stake in the bank, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. Ceylinco chief Lalith Kotelawala, who is now in remand over the collapse of his Golden Key Credit […]

April 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says six parties have expressed interest in buying a one-third stake of Seylan Bank, which was put under the wing of a state bank following a run on its deposits. Seylan Bank, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group, suffered a run after an unregulated firm […]

April 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank said it has submitted an Expression of Interest to the Central Bank to buy a stake in Seylan Bank, part of the troubled Ceylinco group. The Sampath Bank announcement was in a stock exchange filing that gave no other details. The bank was responding to an […]

Apr 13, 2009 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Bank has grown 3.5 percent to 223 million rupees in the full-year 2008, through strong net interest margins were eroded by high taxes, the bank’s annual report shows. Interest income shot up 45.5 percent to 2.86 billion rupees, interest expenses increased 46.9 percent to […]

April 08, 2009 (LBO) – The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) said it has bought full ownership of ABC Insurance Company under a share transfer agreement entered with the shareholders of the company.The insurance firm is part of Sri Lanka’a ABC group which has a strong presence in the shipping industry. MBSL, which is […]

April 08, 2009 (LBO) – HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said it had completed its 12.5-billion-pound rights issue with the sale of the remaining 3.4 percent of shares not taken up by existing shareholders, AFP news agency reported. The British banking giant said Sunday it had a 96.6 percent take-up of the record rights issue, which […]

April 06, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is considering relaxing criteria for bad loan provisioning to help the corporate sector cope with the effects an economic downturn, a senior finance ministry official said. Some private sector representatives from the construction sector, which has been badly affected by the slowdown, also asked at the […]

April 06, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it has confirmed the ‘BBB’ rating of Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka Ltd.(MCSL) with a stable outlook. The rating reflects the implied support assumed to be available from its ultimate parent, state-owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC, ‘AA(lka)’), Sri Lanka’s largest bank, the rating agency said in […]

Apr 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Bank group has reported net profits of 3,427 million rupees in 2008, 2.2 percent lower, while interest income grew 23.4 percent to 64.3 billion rupees, according to the annual report. At stand alone bank level net profits were up 13.9 percent to 2,704 million rupees, with group […]

April 02, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector credit is shrinking with credit card users also falling for two straight months as an economic slowdown begins to bite, the latest official data show. Credit from central bank to the government rose to 244.5 billion rupees in January 2009, from 217.4 billion rupees a month […]