Sri Lanka
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AsiamoneyAfter years of easy Eurobond access and ramped-up Chinese lending, developing economies are now caught between rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions, making debt restructurings more numerous and more complicated. Despite some progress in inter-creditor talks, many debtor nations face an uncertain financial future.
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Commercial Bank of Ceylon
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Sri Lanka has just navigated a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis. Sanath Manatunge, chief executive of Commercial Bank of Ceylon, and Jonathan Alles, CEO of HNB, talk to Asiamoney about what challenges remain for the country’s embattled banking sector.
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Nandalal Weerasinghe has returned from exile to rescue the country’s battered economy. Will he succeed?
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Sampath Bank wins Asiamoney’s award for best bank for corporate and social responsibility this year because of the impact of its innovative and social-changing ways during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
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Mark Surgenor started work as chief executive of HSBC’s Sri Lankan business in December 2021. Within just a couple of months, his bank found itself operating in a country in chaos. Sri Lanka’s economic crisis quickly turned into a political one, leading to a change in prime minister and cabinet and the sovereign’s landmark default on its international debt.
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Darshan Perera, chief executive of NDB Investment Bank, oversaw a stellar year for the full-service investment bank in 2021; the runaway market leader stood out thanks to its wide range of debt and equity capital market deals and M&A transactions, and it held corporate advisory roles on large trades.
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The changing of the guard at a systemically important Sri Lankan bank can be alarming even in the best of times. But throw a political and economic crisis into the mix and the situation becomes even more fraught.
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In early 2017, when Dimantha Seneviratne took the reins as chief executive of NDB Bank, he unveiled the bank’s 'Transformation 2020' strategy to strengthen its corporate banking business. The plan, in consultation with the International Finance Corporation, aimed to improve policies toward small and medium-sized enterprises and the microfinance sector, and support businesses led by women.
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In early 2017, when Dimantha Seneviratne took the reins as chief executive of NDB Bank, he unveiled the bank’s 'Transformation 2020' strategy to strengthen its corporate banking business. The plan, in consultation with the International Finance Corporation, aimed to improve policies toward small and medium-sized enterprises and the microfinance sector, and support businesses led by women.
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Sri Lanka has had a rough 12 months, buffeted by a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic shocks and political turmoil. But People’s Bank managed to navigate the choppy waters well, winning Asiamoney’s award for best domestic bank in the country for 2022.
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Sri Lanka has had a rough 12 months, buffeted by a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic shocks and political turmoil. But People’s Bank managed to navigate the choppy waters well, winning Asiamoney’s award for best domestic bank in the country for 2022.
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The changing of the guard at a systemically important Sri Lankan bank can be alarming even in the best of times. But throw a political and economic crisis into the mix and the situation becomes even more fraught.
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Faced with a political and economic crisis, Sri Lanka’s top bank chief executives took matters into their own hands to prevent a collapse of the country’s financial system.
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As the economy lands with a thud, there’s a dearth of talent in Colombo’s official ranks. Pragmatic diplomacy might now be a better option for the embattled Rajapaksa clan.
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The profligate island’s economy is in meltdown, but authorities appear clueless about how to fix it. The government has consulted the IMF, but a bailout is by no means assured.
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Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka, the island’s biggest non-government bank, has had a relatively good crisis thanks to strong discipline and leadership.
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Jeevan Gnanam, scion of a grand Sri Lankan business family, is driving financial sector modernization and helping to revitalise a once-thriving part of the capital.
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The last year put the spotlight on corporate social responsibility. Sri Lanka's banks demonstrated their dedication to the country not only through their assistance to clients, but also by supporting the government in making sure the population had access to protective equipment and the other aid necessary to get through a pandemic. Commercial Bank of Ceylon was one of the banks that extended help to the community in new ways. That, coupled with the bank's longstanding CSR projects, made the bank Sri Lanka's best for CSR last year.
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More than three quarters of Sri Lanka's enterprises are in the small and medium-sized category. They form the backbone of the economy but tend to be the hardest hit by unexpected shocks. Those that relied on tourism were knocked hard by the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in 2019; in many cases, their debt moratoriums extended into 2020 when the pandemic broke out.
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Digital initiatives for retail customers usually attract the most attention when outsiders try to spot important innovations, and they may serve only a small proportion of a bank's client base. This year's award for best digital bank in Sri Lanka recognizes how important digital was for all clients during the pandemic and goes to NDB for its focus on technology for SMEs.
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HSBC has been in Sri Lanka for more than a century, making it a tough name to beat in the best international bank category.
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NDB Investment Bank, led by chief executive Darshan Perera, stood out yet again as Sri Lanka's best corporate and investment bank.
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Sri Lanka’s banks had seemed poised for a recovery in early 2020: almost a year had passed since the bomb attacks which killed more than 250 people, hitting tourism and other businesses. But then the pandemic struck.
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The country’s banks have worked hard to develop their digital capabilities, but customers are slow to join the revolution.
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The chief executives of People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon have both been ousted as part of the government’s new hard line on state-owned banks it considers are not doing enough to help the struggling economy.
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In Sri Lanka, corporate social responsibility has played an important role for years, as the country has struggled with poverty, decades of civil war and, more recently, a home-grown terror attack. But Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s CSR initiatives make it stand out from the crowd.
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Small and medium-sized enterprises make up an important part of the Sri Lankan economy, representing more than 75% of the total number of enterprises. To reach these companies, particularly the newest up-and-coming businesses, it’s necessary to venture outside Colombo and find plucky entrepreneurs in the furthest reaches of the country.
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The digital banking landscape in Sri Lanka has become increasingly competitive. Each year Asiamoney finds more banks eager to talk about their advances in digital offerings to their clients, as well as their implementation of new technologies in-house.
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For a relatively small country, Sri Lanka has a large number of banks. Domestic banks have reached most parts of the country’s population, seizing market share that once belonged to internationals. But HSBC has refused to be muscled out.
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NDB Investment Bank, led by chief executive Darshan Perera, is rather brazenly described by its staff as the Goldman Sachs of Sri Lanka. It raised SLRs62 billion ($340 million) for its clients in 2019, and increased its fee income by 69% over the previous year.
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Sri Lanka’s banks have had a tough year: the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in April 2019, which killed more than 250 people, disrupted daily life, hit tourism and hurt economic growth overall, while a presidential election later in the year put a further brake on activity. So it is all the more impressive that a number of contenders for this award kept their businesses growing. Of those, NDB Bank stood out as the best domestic bank in the country.
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Rare is the Sri Lankan lender that fails to take corporate social responsibility seriously. It often feels like CSR is hard-wired into the industry, although perhaps that should not come as a surprise.
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Hatton National Bank describes itself as a pioneer in small and medium-sized enterprise banking in Sri Lanka, and so it is. Most of the island’s lenders take the segment seriously, but no financial institution onshore does it as well, or as comprehensively.
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NDB Bank, winner of the award for best bank in Sri Lanka, scoops this prize too, in recognition of its years of consistent effort, innovative thinking and fruitful labour. NDB’s premium banking service, Privilege Banking, has taken off in recent years. It opened three new dedicated centres in 2018, serving NDB’s 7,305 high net-worth customers – or anyone who maintains a deposit of more than SLRs5 million ($27,800) with the bank. Total HNW deposits rose 24% in 2018 to SLRs126 billion.
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Digital banking in Sri Lanka is a work in progress. Several lenders in the private and public sectors are hard at work formulating pan-institutional digital platforms or bolting on new services, then proclaiming their effectiveness and pre-eminence.
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Sri Lanka’s capital markets are shallow by regional standards. Chunky initial public offerings and M&A deals are rare, while most debt sales are limited in scale. Yet the industry has talent, as demonstrated by NDB Investment Bank.
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HSBC has been a trailblazer in Sri Lanka’s banking market virtually from the day it opened its doors in Colombo in 1892. Standard Chartered and Citi, the other viable candidates for this award, both have a solid and long-standing presence in the market. But neither can compete with HSBC, which focuses its time and resources on four areas: credit cards, premium banking, big Sri Lankan corporates and foreign multinationals working onshore.
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NDB Bank’s evolution into Sri Lanka’s best-run lender didn’t happen overnight. The bank started life as a development lender in 1979, and was privatized and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1993.
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Its local banks have invested heavily in technology, but many customers still prefer the old-fashioned ways: paper ledgers and physical tellers. And while the country’s fintech industry is filled with promise, it remains stuck in first gear.
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BoC has only just opened its first Sri Lankan branch, but already it wants to be the biggest foreign player in the market. In an exclusive interview, Asiamoney sits down with the lender’s senior local bankers to discuss its goals and ambitions.
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Sri Lanka’s focus on reforming and liberalizing its economy is bearing fruit, with the country signing new free trade agreements and posting record exports and growth figures. The government is keen to sell down state assets and position the island at the heart of Indian Ocean maritime trade.
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Indrajit Coomaraswamy was all but retired when the call came to run Sri Lanka’s central bank. He can’t remember saying yes to the job, but in 18 months, the self-effacing civil servant has given a government on the edge of bankruptcy a new lease of life.
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Few outside Sri Lanka would equate the island with Islamic banking, but the sector is growing fast and pulling in hitherto unbanked customers.
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Thanks to new capital and accounting rules, higher costs and increased competition, the island’s cosy banking sector is heading for a long overdue shake-up.
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Three foreign lenders stand out on this teardrop-shaped island: HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citi. The latter two have solid and long-standing onshore operations, but neither can compete with the strength of HSBC, which first opened its doors in Sri Lanka way back in 1892.
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Most banks in Sri Lanka see lending to small and medium-sized enterprises as vital to their future – and rightly so. But no one beats Hatton National Bank in terms of its exposure and commitment to the sector.
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Some banks see corporate and social responsibility as an afterthought. Commercial Bank of Ceylon is genuinely committed to the concept, having set up a trust back in 2004 that generates measurable and sustainable social dividends for those parts of society that need it most.
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Demand for premium banking services is mounting in Sri Lanka, one of the emerging world’s fastest-growing economies. Most banks offer some sort of premium product, but no one does it better than Commercial Bank of Ceylon.
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Asiamoney met every big lender in Sri Lanka in February, and each one discussed at great length its digital banking credentials. Most Sri Lankan lenders now possess a pretty credible online banking platform, but Hatton National Bank garners not just the support of its clientele for its offering, but also the respect of its peers.