Category: Industry
Mobile Money
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has drafted guidelines for mobile phone payment systems and called for public comments, according to a notice on its website. Mobile payments will be allowed through accounts in licensed banks and registered finance companies as well as Custodian Account Based Systems operated by non-bank service providers. […]
Cooling Ardour
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – PC House, a Sri Lankan information technology company which debuted on the stock exchange this week, closed below its issue price of 11 rupees Friday, the second day of trading, brokers said. The share opened the day’s trading at 10. 90 rupees, went down to 9.90 and closed at 10.00 […]
Biomed Skills
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is laying the foundation to build a biomedical sector by offering courses in the subject based on British standards to train much needed human resources, educators said. “The development of the human capital base of the country is an important factor for that country to attain a sustainable […]
Arabian Fright
August 27, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan housemaid who had 24 nails embedded in her body — allegedly by her Saudi employer — was recovering in hospital Friday after doctors removed 18 of them during a three-hour surgery. L.T. Ariyawathi, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia had inflicted the injuries on her as […]
Sri Lanka hotel group exits loss-making Maldives resort
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings (JKH) group said it had exited from an island further away from the capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldives, and extended its lease at a more profitable resort. But the Alidhoo island was making losses, and Dhonveli was more profitable the firm said. […]
Sri Lanka to withdraw visa on arrival: public notice
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has decided to withdraw the on-arrival visa facility to tourists from September 30, 2010, a public notice said. The Department of Immigration & Emigration website said on-arrival visas will be given only to visitors from countries that reciprocate. No reason was given for the change and […]
Mindset Change
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan banker has urged a shift to loans based on cash-flows, not assets, and more lending to people in the north-east of money mopped up by new branches in the former war zone. Rajendra Theagarajah, chief executive of the private listed Hatton National Bank, said banks should […]
Merchant Merger
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – The state-owned Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) seeks to merge with two units of its parent Bank of Ceylon group, a stock exchange filing said. It said a proposal is being considered to merge Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka and Ceylease Finance Services with Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka […]
Infamous
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry chief lashed out at the country’s cautious banks which are reluctant to engage in risky lending and also slammed a credit information office, labeling it ‘infamous’. “The associated risks and the mismatch in asset and liabilities of these institutions have imposed a severe burden to their […]
Northern Links
Aug 27, 2010 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give Sri Lanka a loan of 154. 4 million US dollars to modernise roads in the north which was ravaged by decades of war, a statement said. The loan agreement for the project was signed Friday between the Ministry of Finance and Planning and […]
No Access
August 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has blocked over 100 porn websites that allegedly feature local men and women, the government said Thursday, in its biggest yet Internet censorship move. The Sri Lankan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) has been asked to prevent users in the country accessing some 107 adult websites, the government information […]
Bank Numbers
Aug 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Bank said net profits rose 54 percent to 50 million rupees in the half year to June 2010 from a year ago as margins improved and that it plans to have more branches. Interest income fell 10 percent to 858 million rupees while interest expenses fell at […]