Category: Banking and Finance

May 29 (LBO) – The Korean government gave Sri Lanka a 20 million dollar loan on Monday for an administrative complex in the South to relocate tsunami hit offices. Most government offices in the Hambantota district are currently located in private houses after tidal waves in December 2004 destroyed large numbers of state buildings. The […]

May 29, 2006 (LBO) – Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s biggest state owned lender in terms of assets, is confident of making a 4.5 billion profit before taxes for the full year 2006-7, a top official said Monday. Sri Lanka has 10 domestic banks, of which two are state owned Bank of Ceylon and the […]

May 26, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank’s credit outlook could be downgraded if the bank fails to beef up its capital, improves profitability and arrest chronic problems of bad debts, Fitch Ratings Lanka said Friday. Fitch assigned a ‘BBB+(lka)’ rating for Seylan’s upcoming 4-year 1.5 billion rupee subordinated debenture and affirmed the it’s […]

May 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s biggest leasing company, People’s Leasing, has begun offering Islamic financial products, catering to Muslims who regard interest-based banking as a sin, a top official said Thursday. Muslims make up around 7.5 percent of this tropical island’s population, but local financial institutions have been slow to tailor-make products to […]

May 25, 2006 (LBO) – The Hayleys Group said Thursday that Nirmala Gihan Wickremeratne, Deputy Chairman, will succeed Rajan Yatawara as Chairman of the blue chip conglomerate effective 10th January 2007, on the retirement of the latter after over 40 years of service. Wickremeratne, who joined Hayleys in 1971 and was appointed to the Board […]

May 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking at the possibility of taking over the dormant accounts and property deposited in commercial and specialised banks which have remained unclaimed over a long period of time, banking sources said. The Central Bank is already collecting data on all bank accounts and properties which have not […]

May 24, 2006 (LBO) – People’s Bank, Sri Lanka’s second-largest state bank in terms of assets, said group net profits for the three-months to March 31 rose 22.1 percent to 926.23 million rupees. The technically insolvent bank said Wednesday that its net profits were up 14.3 percent to 774.19 million rupees during the period under […]

May 24, 2006 (LBO) – Authorities in Sri Lanka are stepping up a campaign against pyramid schemes, after learning that promoters were targeting school leavers and unemployed youth in rural districts. The Central Bank has already started to publish a series of advertisements in the vernacular Sinhalese language newspapers. Officials say the campaign will be […]

May 23 (LBO) – Local commercial banks with a backlog of un-cleared cheques say the operational glitch will be sorted out by the end of this week. LankaClear, the country’s cheque clearing house jointly owned by the Central Bank and licensed commercial banks, rolled out its new cheque imaging and truncation system earlier this month. […]

May 22, 2006 (LBO) – More than 25 co-operative societies have responded positively to the government’s call to revamp their banking units, Commissioner of Co-operatives Leslie Tissera said. Co-operative banking units have more than 20 billion rupees in public deposits, but the sector is under capitalised and poorly regulated. Tissera’s office has sent out proposals […]

May 18, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank Thursday reported a 585 percent jump in first quarter profits boosted by capital gains from the partial equity stake sale in Eagle Insurance. “The results are not surprising, considering the capital gains made from the part sale of Eagle to Aviva,” notes Chinthaka Ranasinghe, Head of […]

May 17, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hayleys Ltd Wednesday reported a 24 percent drop in net profits for the financial year ended March 31, due to higher input costs in its various subsidiaries. Hayleys, which has diversified interest in power, rubber products, coir, transport, agriculture, resorts and consumer durables, said group net profits were […]