Category: Banking and Finance

October 9, 2006 (LBO) – Unions affiliated to Sri Lankan state banks are pressing for a second pension for staff who joined after 1996, though existing pension funds are short by billions of rupees. Prior to 1996, all state bank employees were given a pension, besides the statutory Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees Trust […]

Oct 5, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to increase overall defence spending by 45 percent in calendar 2007 amid an upsurge in fighting between security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels, officials figures showed Thursday.The government’s initial budget estimates placed before parliament forecast defence spending would rise to 139.55 billion rupees (1.39 billion dollars) from […]

October 1, 2006 (LBO) – In another twist to the continuing GoldQuest controversy, remaining officials of the anti-pyramiding unit, that probed the GoldQuest case have been transferred for better career prospects, and to complete other urgent work, senior central bank officials said. “We established the Unit to carry out investigations without disrupting the work of […]

September 29, 2006 (LBO) – Commercial Bank of Ceylon secured a AA(lka) for its upcoming 1.5 billion rupee debenture, with Fitch Ratings asking the bank to match its growth with capital. Sri Lanka’s biggest private bank in terms of assets, Commercial Bank is raising debt with maturities ranging from 5-10 years to meet upcoming expansion […]

September 28, 2006 (LBO) — The Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) and top state bank officials are due to present a comprehensive proposal to the President to make state banks more competitive. According to the SEMA, the Peoples’ Bank pension fund is short of 8.3 billion rupees, Bank of Ceylon 2.5 billion rupees and NSB […]

Sept 28 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government said Thursday that it would amend the country’s Finance Companies Act, to allow minimum capital requirements of finance companies to be raised. The government said earlier it would raise minimum capital requirements of finance companies from 100 million rupees to 200 million rupees, with companies given until […]

LONDON, Sept 24, 2006 (AFP) – Islamic finance is soaring around the world owing to an influx of petro-dollars from the Middle East and growing demand by investors, both Muslim and non-Muslim, according to analysts. The Islamic finance sector, compatible with Sharia law based on the Koran, is now worth between 300 and 500 billion […]

Sept 22 (LBO) –Savers in Sri Lanka, who are losing money because of negative real interest rates in the country, stand to recoup their losses if they get lucky in a lottery that has now become a standard feature of bank deposits. The country’s largest private bank, Hatton National Bank is offering a Mercedes Benz […]

Sept 22 (LBO) – Some Sri Lankan banks that are shifting traffic off its counters and to self service channels like teller machines and home banking, are doing better than other South Asian countries. Sri Lanka became the eleventh country in the world to accept bulk cash deposits in large denominations, which are instantly credited […]

SINGAPORE, September 18, 2006 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lender, is scaling up operations in smaller countries, as it looks for ways to share expertise to give market access to rural communities. Sales of these carbon credits, helps the Netherlands comply with its commitments under the Clean Development Mechanism […]

MANILA, Sept 15, 2006 (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank said Friday it has launched a 10 billion-dollar Asian currency note programme that would serve as the first platform for bond issues in regional currencies. Under the scheme, Asian currency bonds are issued in their domestic markets under a single unified framework with a common […]

Sept 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private port operator South Asia Gateway Terminals said Thursday that it has raised 48 million dollars through a syndicated loan facility, to refinance old debt. As at end August, volumes handled at SAGT was up 36.5 percent over last year, to 853,883 TEU’s, with high growth in lower margin […]