Skills Boost

March 05, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's financial regulators are coming together to boost skills of market professionals in a bid to deepen securities and insurance industries. Sri Lanka has a large number of companies, financial institutions, registered financial, leasing and insurance companies, merchant banks, venture capital firms and unit trusts. Sri Lanka's capital markets have not been fully tapped, officials say, with a lack of skill levels in the industry being the main reason.

"One of the key reasons for the capital market not to expand to the extent and potential the business community may have expected it to grow is the knowledge dearth of necessary skills among the persons involved in the capital market operations," Gamini Wickramasinghe Chairman, SEC and IBSL told reporters.

The new academy, housed in the Central Bank training centre premises, will have capital market and insurance sector training for local professionals.

The insurance sector of the academy is already affiliated to the Singapore College of Insurance but the academy is on the lookout for affiliations for the capital market arm.

Comparing Sri Lanka's nine billion dollar marke