Category: Industry
Athletes reject calls for Olympics boycott, protests in Beijing
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 24, 2008 (AFP) – Athletes from national Olympic Committees on Thursday rejected any boycott of the Beijing Games and said sport should be kept separate from politics despite China’s poor human rights record.“We are all of the wholehearted belief that boycotts are pointless and senseless — and only hurt the athletes,” the […]
Tri-lingual Alert
April 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tigo, a unit of Millicom International Cellular has started short message service (SMS) alerts in Sinhala and Tamil languages, linking up with text news pioneer JNW, officials said. The service runs with content from JNW News (www.jnw.lk) and software developed by Microimage Mobile Media , a Sri Lanka-based […]
More Time
April 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has given more time for founding directors and chairmen of banks to serve on the boards beyond the original nine years specified by the regulator. “These additional transitional provisions give special consideration to the role and contribution of Founding Directors and Incumbent Chairmen to the promotion […]
Confirmed Credit
April 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Fitch Ratings has confirmed Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s ‘AA+(lka)’ rating with a stable outlook, citing the bank’s good profitability, asset quality, strong solvency, high capitalization and its standing among local banks. Fitch also confirmed the banks ‘individual rating at ‘D’ and support rating at ‘5’. The ‘AA(lka)’ rating […]
Sri Lanka ABC Insurance suspension lifted
April 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s insurance watchdog said it had lifted a suspension of ABC Insurance after the firm complied with solvency rules. The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka said it had lifted a suspension of its registration after the firm had taken corrective measures to comply with general insurance solvency margin rules. […]
Sri Lanka Ceylinco to push retirement thinking in May
April 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Life is lunching a month long campaign in May to promote retirement planning, as knowledge about the process is poor and penetration is low, the company said in a statement. Ceylinco says despite an aging population, Sri Lanka’s penetration level of retirement planning is even lower than […]
Step Up
April 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Fitch Ratings has upgraded Sanasa Development Bank’s speculative grade by one notch to BB(lka) with a stable outlook, the rating agency said. “The upgrade reflects the materialisation of SDB’s planned capital program, and is supported by the bank’s good profitability and asset quality, albeit constrained somewhat by the […]
Remote Control
April 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan technology outsourcing company Eureka is to set up an office in Dubai and also expand its information security, disaster recovery management and remote infrastructure management services (RIM), officials say. “We know the market, carefully researched, we know the problems, problems of development, energy so on, we know the […]
Capital Question
April 22, 2008 (LBO) – A shareholder has asked Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank to return its excess capital to shareholders but its management says plans are on to use the money to better effect and the time is not right for a distribution. Mano Nanayakkara, an investment consultant who has a personal stake in […]
‘s police to guard torch: official
SYDNEY, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – More than half the police force in Australia’s capital Canberra will guard the Olympic torch when the troubled relay arrives in the city this week, officials said Monday.Security has been beefed up for Thursday’s run, which is expected to attract hundreds of pro-Tibet demonstrators angry at China’s treatment of […]
Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin to be jointly run: officials
April 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Air would be commercially run together after new chief executives take-over but the two airlines would remain as separate entities, officials said. But the government has so far not given him permission to leave the airline, he said. G T Jayaseelan, SriLankan’s former head of […]
No Fixing
April 21, 2008 9LBO) A European Union directive to abolish shipping line ‘conferences’ or cartels by October should lead to more competition and enable shippers to get a better deal, Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council officials said. SLSC president Ananda Wijayasuriya said lines will in future not be able to fix prices but negotiate contracts of […]