News & market updates

DFCC Bank will reimburse LKR 2,000 of the transaction fee for remittances sent via Lanka Money Transfer to DFCC accounts (minimum LKR 50,000) during a promotion running until 31 January 2025. Customers are eligible for two monthly reimbursements and the top remitter wins a return air ticket.

Fitch upgraded the national long-term ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks and affirmed five after recalibrating the national rating scale following a sovereign upgrade; most outlooks remain Stable. Union Bank and Cargills Bank carry Negative Outlooks due to capital-buffer and parent-support risks.

Fitch upgraded the national long-term ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks and affirmed five after recalibrating the national rating scale following Sri Lanka's sovereign upgrade on 20 December 2024.

Colombo Stock Exchange closed higher as ASPI rose 0.71% to 16,373.15, led by banks and capital goods stocks. Heavy volumes included Sierra Cables, Teejay Lanka and LOLC Finance, with Teejay Lanka, NDB, DFCC and Ceylon Cold Stores among top contributors.

ASPI closed up 0.26% at 16,257.31 as the Colombo bourse ended higher despite a net foreign outflow of 221 million rupees. Banks and consumer names drew interest; top foreign selling hit John Keells while DFCC, Dipped Products, Hemas and Commercial Bank were among top contributors.

Cargills Bank (CBNK.N0000) launched 'Tapit', Sri Lanka's first NFC contactless sticker payment available as debit and credit cards using Mastercard PayPass with EMV chip protection and instant SMS transaction alerts.

Cargills Bank has partnered with Sampath Information Technology Solutions to introduce gold loans and pawning services using SITS's Prime platform, providing fully digital onboarding, risk assessment and loan disbursal. This marks Cargills Bank's first entry into the gold loan segment.

Cargills Bank (CBNK) will act as the collection agent for CT CLSA Asset Management’s unit trust funds, allowing unitholders to subscribe at 530 Cargills supermarket outlets nationwide.

Cargills Bank will act as collection agent for CT CLSA Asset Management unit trusts, enabling subscriptions at 530 Cargills Food City, Cargills Express and Cargills Food Hall outlets nationwide.

NDB Investment Bank (part of the NDB Group) was named Euromoney's 'Best Investment Bank in Sri Lanka' for the 13th consecutive year. The release notes NDBIB's recent role arranging a USD 14m debt raise for Hela Apparel and advising on IPOs including UB Finance and Cargills Bank.

NDB Investment Bank (part of the NDB Group) was named 'Best Investment Bank in Sri Lanka' by Euromoney for the 13th consecutive year. The release notes NDBIB's 2023 transactions, including arranging $14m debt for Hela Apparel and advising on IPOs for UB Finance and Cargills Bank.

Colombo market opened higher as the ASPI rose 0.30% to 13,229 and the S&P SL20 gained 0.12% on turnover of Rs. 2.3bn; top contributors included HAYL, SPEN, AEL, JKH and CFIN, with Lion Brewery closing up at Rs. 1,114.75.

Cargills Bank has partnered with Sampath IT Solutions Ltd to manage its nationwide POS network, aiming to speed up and secure card payments. SITS will implement data encryption, real-time monitoring and automated maintenance to improve transaction reliability and extend 24/7 services, including in remote areas.

Fitch says a successful sovereign debt restructuring and reduced sovereign stresses would support Sri Lankan banks' operating environments and national credit profiles. The agency expects easing funding and liquidity pressures and improved access to foreign‑currency wholesale funding.

Fitch says Sri Lanka’s banks’ financial profiles would improve following a successful sovereign debt restructure for local bondholders, likely easing funding and liquidity pressures and restoring access to foreign-currency wholesale funding.

Fitch says a completed sovereign debt restructuring and improvement in Sri Lanka's credit profile would support banks' operating environment and credit profiles, citing high exposure to local treasury instruments (33.4% of assets) and easing funding and liquidity pressures.

Kavinda de Zoysa has been appointed Chairman of Bank of Ceylon; he is a career banker with over 30 years’ experience and was most recently Director and Country Business Head of Citibank Sri Lanka, with a track record in digitization and corporate banking.

Colombo market ended a seven-day winning streak as the ASPI fell 8 points and the S&P SL20 slipped 4 points, with turnover of Rs.1.86 billion. Banking stocks led turnover (34%) while quarterly results boosted PARQ, CONN and JETS, Sampath and Pan Asia were active, and Vidullanka announced an interim dividend of Rs.0.20 per share.

Intellect Design Arena launched eMACH.ai in Sri Lanka — a composable open-finance platform offering 329 microservices, 535 events and over 1,757 APIs to help banks design future-ready technology. Named local clients include HDFC Sri Lanka, Cargills Bank, Central Finance, CDB, Seylan Bank and Union Bank of Colombo.

Intellect Design Arena launched eMACH.ai in Sri Lanka — a composable open-finance platform with 329 microservices, 535 events and over 1,757 APIs — and cited local customers including HDFC, Cargills Bank, Central Finance, Seylan Bank and Union Bank as users/partners.

Colombo Stock Exchange closed lower as All Share Index fell 0.08% to 11,494 and S&P SL20 fell 0.02% to 3,300, with differing informal election polls weighing on sentiment. Turnover was 580 million with net foreign inflow of 47.8 million; crossings included JKH, TJL and MELS, and Lanka Aluminium declared a Rs1 dividend.

Cargills Bank (CBNK.N0000) signed an MOU with HNB General Insurance to offer tailored general-insurance solutions to its customers, including those in its agricultural product portfolio.

Cargills Bank has signed a bancassurance partnership with HNB General Insurance to offer tailored general insurance solutions — including products for Cargills Bank's agri customers — expanding insurance availability to the bank's customer base.