Category: Banking and Finance

Sept 01, 2008 (LBO) – A former senior general manager of Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Harris Premaratne will head Sampath Bank, with the retirement of the current chief executive, the firm said in a stock exchange filing. Current chief executive Anil Amarasuriya will continue till December 2008 with Premaratne assuming duties as chief executive officer […]

Aug 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Standard Chartered Bank (SCBSL) branch has been given a AAA(lka) rating with a ‘stable’ outlook, Fitch Ratings said. Fitch said the rating reflected the financial strength of Standard Chartered A+ international rating which is higher than the B+ sovereign foreign currency rating of Sri Lanka. Fitch said the […]

Aug 28, 2008 (LBO) – Fitch Sri Lanka said it had downgraded the national long term rating of First Capital Treasuries, a primary dealer in government securities, to ‘A- (lka)’ from ‘A(lka)’ and also withdrawn the rating at the request of the company. “FCT was the only independent primary dealer to have carried a rating […]

Aug 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank (NDB) group net profit for the June 2008 quarter fell 35 percent to 363.5 million rupees, interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Revenue grew 14 percent […]

Aug 27, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFFC Bank net profit for the June quarter rose 30 percent to 515 million rupees from 395 million rupees a year ago, helped by capital gains from the sale of shares, the bank’s interim results show. Profit for the June quarter included a one-off gain of 108 million […]

Aug 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks face challenging times with margins being squeezed as interest rates rise, a report by a stock brokerage said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘act (space) lbo’ and send to 678 “The last two quarterly earnings seasons have shown testing times for […]

Aug 26, 2008 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank group dipped 17 percent to 567 million rupees in the quarter ended June 2008 as rising interest rates and flat loan growth took its toll, interim accounts released showed.The bank said in a statement that it had contained non-interest income which grew only […]

Aug 25, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run People’s Bank group net profits fell 5.7 percent to 1,484 million rupees in the half year to June 2008, with incomes taxes more than doubling in the period, interim accounts showed. At bank level interest margin fell to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent, return on assets to […]

Aug 25, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s DFCC Vardhana bank after-tax profits fell 69.5 percent to 16.3 million rupees in the quarter ended June 2008 as interest expenses took their toll of the bottom line, interim accounts showed. A subsidiary of the DFCC Bank, Vardhana bank’s revenue shot up 52.6 percent to 787.4 million rupees […]

August 21, 2008 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank has staged a steady turnaround under the direction of its chief executive Rajendra Theagarajah. But with a weakening economy of high inflation and volatile interest rates, banks in general are under pressure.HNB is now looking at maintaining asset quality and increasing its exposure abroad as domestic loan […]

Aug 20, 20078 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank’s net profits for the quarter ended June 2008 has fallen 32-pct to 309.6 million rupees on tighter margins, interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. Total deposits were up 3.85 percent to 117.6 billion rupees. Group assets grew 3.3 percent to 162.4 billion rupees […]

Aug 18, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Peoples’ Bank has started a new service with personal digital assistant (PDA) equipped officers visiting customer premises to offer banking facilities. The ‘palm-top’ banking service allows customers to open an account, make deposits, withdraw cash, apply for loans, make balance inquiries and do reversals, the bank said. […]