Business

Sri Lankan Airlines together with the country’s premier meeting, events, and function hosting venue BMICH, have come together to promote MICE tourism in Sri Lanka.

The monetary authority has reassessed the restrictions, and on 19 January 2021 permitted licensed banks to pay cash dividends and repatriate profits after completion of the audit of the financial statements for the year 2020.  

When deciding payment of cash dividends and repatriation of profits for the year 2020, licenced banks are expected to consider assets growth, business expansion and the impact from COVID-19 pandemic, CB said in a media release.  

Further, licensed banks were required to refrain from engaging in share buybacks and increasing non-essential expenditure, while exercising extreme due diligence and prudence when incurring capital expenditure until 30 June 2021.

Deteriorating asset quality and the associated higher credit costs are expected to keep banks’ profitability lower in 2021 than pre-2019 levels, despite improvement from 2020 profitability.CB said.

Previously, the Central Bank, on 13 May 2020 decided to restrict certain discretionary payments of licensed banks, such as declaring cash dividends and repatriation of profits, engaging in share buy backs, increasing management allowances and payments to the Board of Directors until 31 December 2020 with a view to strengthening the liquidity and capital positions of licensed banks under exceptional circumstances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Banks are emerging largely unhurt from the pandemic due to regulatory forbearance measures on capital and liquidity, moratoria, leniency on recognising loss provisions and large amounts of liquidity made available for on-lend as well as to backstop borrowers from defaulting.

However, the Central Bank called on licensed banks to take into account capital requirements under Basel III, expected asset growth, business expansion and the impact of the pandemic when deciding on the payment of the cash dividend.

“Licensed Commercial Banks shall also refrain till 30 June 2021 from buying back its own shares, increasing management allowances and payments to Board of Directors, exercise prudence and refrain to the extent possible from incurring non-essential expenditure such as advertising, promotions, gift schemes, entertainment, sponsorships, travelling and training.”

The circular also insisted banks exercise due diligence and prudence when incurring any capital expenditure.

Fitch ratings in a special report titled ‘Sri Lanka Banks Report Card 2020’, released in December warned sluggish economic activity, external and domestic vulnerabilities, muted private credit growth and the sovereign’s weakened credit profile are significant downside risks to the operating environment for Sri Lankan banks.

The National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA) Provides recognition to the outstanding achievement of individuals and organizations in Sri Lanka that have developed high-quality ICT products.

'PinTheBiz' calls upon the support and cooperation of all Sri Lankans to help promote small businesses that they patronize, by spreading the word and recommending goods or services that they have consumed and sharing positive feedback. All they have to do is to visit 'PinTheBiz.lk' and submit the pin location/address, shop category, shop name and a contact number of businesses of their choice. Users can also submit entries by sending an SMS with the text 'SME' to 1312, to receive a text message with a link to the PinTheBiz website. If an individual does not own a smartphone, they also have the alternative option of sending their submissions via an SMS to 1312, with the text 'HELP', upon which they will be contacted via telephone by a support center representative. All entries that are submitted will be tagged by PinTheBiz and mapped on Google Maps.

These business listings will then be accessible to the public by Googling the phrase 'PinTheBiz shops near me' to receive a curated list of shops in their near vicinity. The initiative hopefully will drive more customers to these small businesses and is expected to spur a strong spirit of community, where every purchase made will support the livelihoods of millions of our own country's people. The highly engaging initiative comes at a time of a global pandemic that has deeply impacted over a million local SME’s and in turn the livelihoods of a massive proportion of individuals and families in the country.

"Small businesses are at the heart of our communities and the key to millions of jobs. The COVID-19' pandemic has unfortunately had a crippling effect on the country's economy, in particular SME's. The proposition of PinTheBiz is to put our best foot forward to inspire all Sri Lankans to help those who are trying hard and support their local businesses at a time when they need it the most.” Softlogic Life Managing Director, Iftikar Ahamed stated.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a significant part of Sri Lanka’s economy, with over one million SMEs accounting for approximately 75 percent of all businesses. These are found in all sectors of the economy and are estimated to contribute about 45 percent of total employment in Sri Lanka.

"SMEs are the backbone of the economy in terms of business potential, sustainable growth, employment, and technological innovation. They contribute nearly 45% of total employment opportunities to the country. It is imperative to do our utmost to support these resilient entrepreneurs to continue their operations and maintain livelihoods as well. As always, Softlogic Life continues to leverage the power of technology to accelerate growth and fuel innovation in our journey towards enhancing the quality of life for all Sri Lankan's. Therefore, the 'PinTheBiz' campaign will provide a platform for people to not only engage with us but to actively be part of this cause," Ahamed continued to state.

According to a recent report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the COVID-19' pandemic left a massive two-thirds of SMEs in the country reporting a decrease in demand for their products or services, while almost three-quarters reported decreased sales, with companies in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors hit the hardest, followed by the services sector. Eight out of ten SMEs experienced difficulties meeting operating expenses and had some shortfall in debt repayment or ability to meet financial obligations due to COVID-19.

As Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing life insurer, Softlogic Life is known to have led many industry-first initiatives through a blend of creativity and disruptive innovation such as one day claims settlement, worldwide cashless hospital settlement product integrating more than 60 local hospitals, offering Life insurance via mobile through a partnership with Dialog Axiata PLC a completely paperless digital underwriting solution, and a bundle of digital first initiatives to elevate the standards of Sri Lanka by bringing together world-class solutions that improve the experience of insurance for our customers .

The grand finale of the Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year Awards - 2019  will be  held on 4th of March 2021 at BMICH (Main Hall) from 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm subject to health regulations of the Ministry of Health, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) said.

This assurance was given by Ambassador of France in Sri Lanka Eric Lavertu, when he visited the Colombo Dockyard PLC recently.    

Colombo Dockyard PLC is engaged in the construction of a high technology vessel for Orange Marine of France.

The vessel is especially designed and equipped for sub-sea cable lay and repair operation duties worldwide.

As the leader of the shipbuilding industry in Sri Lanka, Colombo Dockyard continuously proves its excellence through successful securing and execution of shipbuilding projects worldwide and is one of the front runners of Sri Lankan industrialisation.

It operates in joint collaboration with Onomichi Dockyard Company – Japan, who owns a stake of 51% of Colombo Dockyard PLC.

The Ambassador undertook this visit as part of the recent contract inked between the Colombo Dockyard and Orange Marine – France.

The Colombo Dockyard paid a tribute to Ambassador Eric Lavertu, State Minister Jayantha Samaraweera and the Economic Counsellor for their support extended in view to the finalisation of the contractual documents under special approval in November 2020.

LOLC Finance – Sri Lanka’s largest Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI), has introduced a credit card named 'Savi', exclusively designed for pensioners and state sector employees across Sri Lanka.

The funds will mainly be utilised to help businesses that need support for revival in their operations, namely in the SME sector associated with exports, fisheries, logistics, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing etc.

BOC will receive the USD 70 million second tranche of the loan facility of USD 140 million by June this year in a landmark deal with the China Development Bank (CDB), Bank Chairman Kanchana Ratwatte said.

The first tranche of USD 70 million was released on July 19 last year under this deal entered with CDB on the strength of BOC and it will be a milestone for a more comprehensive and enhanced cooperation between the two banks.

He noted that as the largest commercial bank in Sri Lanka, BOC considers itself as the bankers to the nation with the strongest balance sheet and the No. 1 banking brand value to raise much needed foreign currency funds from foreign banks and lending agencies.

He said the CDB loan “will be utilised for supplementing Bank of Ceylon’s general lending requirements, which will provide much needed support for businesses affected by COVID-19”.

“The funds will mainly be utilised to help businesses that need support for revival in their operations, namely in the SME sector associated with exports, fisheries, logistics, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.” he added.

“We are getting this 3-year facility at a very favourable rate. We will start paying interest at the end of one-year”,Mr. Ratwatte said. .

CDB is one of the world’s largest development financial institutions and the largest Chinese bank for financing cooperation, long-term lending and bond issuance.              

“BOC and CDB have established a long-term partnership ever since 2010, with this year marking the tenth anniversary of cooperation between the two banks,” he added.

Partnered with BOC, CDB has also provided the first CNY on-lending facility in Sri Lanka.

BOC is the only state institution maintaining a foreign correspondent bank network of over 800 banks that spreads across the world.

The signing of this Facility Agreement signals boosted cooperation between the two banks, further promoting association between financial institutions of Sri Lanka and China under the Belt and Road Initiative as China continues to grow its influence in Sri Lanka.

The company reached the LKR 6 billion mark in December 2020, becoming the fastest general insurance company to achieve this milestone in the industry, said LOLC General Insurance CEO Kithsiri Gunawardena in a media statement issued by the company.

“During the last few years we have continuously streamlined the processes and achieved greater coordination between different units of the company. The staff was motivated to work as one team and embarked on a customer-centric approach.

A scheme was introduced where a pre-designated percentage of the company profits was shared with our staff thereby elevating them to become true stakeholders of our business. We also critically analysed our expenses and introduced mechanisms to achieve greater efficiency and productivity,” he said.

Despite 2020 being the most challenging year for most businesses in the country and a year in which the insurance industry was seen recording negative growth, he said LOLC General Insurance managed to record its best performance during this year. Although external operating conditions remained challenging, the general insurance business performed steadily.

He said the opportunities for growth are immense in the market. With a saturated motor market and the challenge of limited new registrations for the foreseeable future, the price and service will be key in this sphere.

“The non-motor market is noticeably underpenetrated and this gives LOLC General Insurance opportunities to grow with our unique products and services to customers,” he said.