Category: Banking and Finance

Nov 06, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has confirmed Central Finance Company’s (CF) long-term rating of ‘A+ (lka)’ with a ‘stable’ outlook. CF has a 20 percent interest in Nations Trust Bank (‘A (lka)’), a licensed commercial bank. “CF’s rating factors in its strong financial profile and its dominant market position as the second-largest […]

Nov 05, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings says Sri Lanka’s finance companies are coming under stress from the current high interest rates and inflation, which increases risks especially in smaller finance companies. Updated/corrected, bailout numbers While most finance companies are well capitalized compared to their risk assets, 12 smaller firms out of 31 do not […]

Nov 05, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) has grown 40.3 percent in the year to March 31 2007 compared to the rest of the industry which grew at 16 percent, Fitch Ratings said, confirming the firm’s ‘A(lka)’ rating. However Fitch said bad loans were rising and asked the leasing firm to “aggressively […]

Nov 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s newest registered finance company, Swarnamahal Financial Services (SFS), kicked off this week offering a range of lending and deposit products. CEO Hafeez Rajudin says the company, a unit of the EAP group, will soon open two branches in Kandy and Colombo. In addition to hire purchase and leases, […]

Oct 20, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has affirmed the National Long-term rating and Individual Rating of Bank of Ceylon (BOC) at ‘AA(lka)’ and ‘D/E’ respectively. It said in a statement the affirmation reflected “the bank’s systemic importance as the largest bank in Sri Lanka with 18.2% of the banking system assets, its relatively […]

Oct 16, 2007 (LBO) – As global markets are going through a painful hangover from a US housing bubble, the head of a ‘big four’ accounting firm says Asia will remain largely unaffected. Jim Turley: I don’t think there is going to be a lasting effect of this on compliance cost because institutions that are […]

Oct 15, 2007 (LBO) – People’s Merchant Bank (PMB) shares shot up 15.50 rupees to 55 rupees in Monday morning trading on the Colombo bourse as the firm said that Lanka Orix Leasing Company had increased its stake in the company. PMB said in a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange that its share price […]

Oct 15, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said Monday that cheque returns were too high and warned customers that issuing cheques without funds was an offence. The total value of returned cheques in a day is “substantial”, amounting to over half a billion rupees, a bank statement said. Out of the total number […]

Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned Peoples’ Bank (PB) is on track to get a credit upgrade if its capital is boosted to regulatory requirements, Fitch Ratings Lanka has said after confirming the bank’s A- (lka) rating. The bank was in line to get a billion rupee capital injection from the state in […]

Oct 01, 2007 (LBO) – Aureos South Asia Fund (ASAF) has invested five million dollars in an Apollo hospital in Bangladesh, the South Asian focused investment fund said. The Bangladesh Taka 343 million injection goes to STS Holdings, which owns the Apollo Hospital in the country. The investment will boost STS Holdings’ plans for further […]

Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka which confirmed the AAA (lka) national rating of Citibank’s Sri Lanka branch said its interest margins were boosted by dollar financing of the island’s government. In the first half of the year net interest margins and forex gains had allowed pretax profits to improve to 2.7 percent […]

Sept 25, 2007 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund which has warned of further fallouts from the sub-prime crisis has called on credit evaluators to use a new rating scale to describe default risks of asset-backed securities. Now asset-backed debt products or securitized instruments use the same rating scale that is used from straightforward bonds […]