Category: Banking and Finance

February 12 (LBO) – The life business of Janashakthi Insurance grew by 26 percent in the year to December with branch expansion driving new business, while total gross premium reached 4.1 billion rupees, the company said Monday. Life business volumes reached 1,025 million rupees with first year life premiums growing by 37 percent to 479 […]

Feb 12 (LBO) – Rating agency Fitch Lanka affirmed Central Finance Company’s A+(lka)’ long-term rating on the strength of its vehicle financing business, with the firm also branching out into real estate. The company holds a 20 percent stake in licensed commercial bank Nations Trust Bank, and also has interests through associate and subsidiary companies […]

February, 9 (LBO) – A one-off pension charge hit Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s earnings in the last quarter, dragging down annual profits despite capital gains from equity sales, draft accounts released Friday said. The bank lost 276 million rupees in the December quarter as a 1,738 million rupee charge to a restructured pension scheme took […]

February 02 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks have reported much smaller volumes than previously expected, though state banks are yet to complete their reports, an official said. With only the Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank yet to report dormant assets, information regarding 545 million rupees worth of assets have been collected, Acting Bank Supervisor, […]

Jan 31, 2007 (LBO) – HSBC in Sri Lanka is hoping to rope in more customers to its phone banking service by offering toll-free services in three languages for the first time in Sri Lanka, officials said. Though Sri Lanka does not have a toll free number system, HSBC has arranged with fixed and mobile […]

January 30 (LBO) – The central bank is planning to introduce new prudential regulations for credit cards, following their rapid use and growth in lending, an official said. Last year the government slapped a 10 rupee stamp duty on every 1000 rupees of purchases through credit cards.Up to last November Sri Lankan banks have issued […]

January 29, (LBO) – State Mortgage and Investment Bank has trimmed its non-performing loans sharply, the rating agency Fitch said, affirming the banks’ A (lka) rating with a stable outlook. Gross non-performing loans were cut down to 14.7 percent of gross loans by the third quarter of 2006, from 21 by the end of the […]

January 29, (LBO) – Seylan Bank is raising cash to boost its capital through a debenture issue, the bank said. The Ceylinco group, owns 19 percent of its voting sahres, while several employee share ownership trusts of Seylan hold 27 percent of its voting equity, according to Fitch Ratings. The bank will issue listed, unsecured […]

January 26, (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has upgraded National Development Bank’s credit outlook to positive from stable, but left the larger Commercial Bank’s outlook unchanged after the two firms said they were in talks to merge. It has 157 branches in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. NDB has assets of 59 billion rupees and is now […]

January 24 (LBO) –Commercial Bank of Ceylon and National Development Bank has entered into merger talks, the banks said Wednesday. “In the event the negotiations are successful, and the manner in which the merger may be achieved is agreed upon, the proposal for such merger will be submitted to the Monetary Board of the Central […]

Jan 25, 2007 (LBO) – Ceylon Theatres Group which has bagged 70 percent of Commercial Fund Management says it is looking to increase the group’s interests in financial services, by acquiring a fund managing firm. CT Capital now has to acquire the balance 30 percent of the shares which are held by Austalind, an overseas […]

January 24 (LBO) – The proposed merger of Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank and Commercial Bank will give the merged entity more clout to spread its wings in the region, officials said. “We want to create a large bank to go regional,” says Harris Premarathne Senior DGM of Commercial Bank. “The challenge we have is […]