Peoples Bank is waiting for a fresh lquote letter of comfort from the Treasury to sign off its 2002 financial statements.
The Treasury last issued the letter on April 3 2002, but subsequently withdrew it, with the hope of finding fresh investors for Peoples Bank.
rn
rnThe bank has halved its Rs. 6 bn negative networth, after clocking in a billion rupees as profits for the fiscal year ending Dec.
31, 2002.rn
rnThe winning runs came from higher recoveries in its bad loan portfolio and profits from its investment portfolio.rn
rnThe bank also re-valued its fixed assets, which added a further Rs. 2 bn to its bottomline in 2002.
rn
rn"We are not out of the woods yet. We also needed another Rs. 6 bn to meet the Central Banks capital adequacy ratio,
dblquote Chairman Lal Nanayakkara said in an interview.
rn
rnThe bank, which had its capital wiped out due to bad lending practices in the past, has been looking for up to Rs. 10 bn in fresh capital. rn
rnThe Treasury has refused to bail the bank out for