business Sri Lanka

The World Bank has applauded the rising investment portfolio in the blue economy sector, which comprises investments in reducing the pollution at sea and ensuring that millions of people around the world have access to clean water, its executives said on Tuesday.

In a statement issued at the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference underway in Nairobi, the lender said it had raised 66 billion shillings ($660 million) in sustainable bonds, which highlight the critical role of the oceans and water resources play in international development.

The Bank has committed $37 billion in water resources and other ocean-related portfolio of more than $4 billion, which include funds invested in a project in the Philippines and Indonesia, aiming to reduce the marine pollution, according to Bank executives.

“We are delighted with the diverse range of investors that have purchased our bond series and appreciate the commitment of all stakeholders to new approaches to ensuring better stewardship of our fresh water and ocean resources,” said Arunma Oteh, World Bank’s Vice-President and Treasurer.

(chinadaily.com.cn)

The Dambulla Branch of Nations Trust Bank was unveiled on November 26.

The new branch is located on the Anuradhapura Road, Dambulla and is housed in a well-designed facility that promises efficiency and comfort for customers to access the bank’s entire portfolio of products and services.

Speaking at the opening of the new branch, Sheahan Daniel Senior Vice President of Branch Network at Nations Trust Bank said, “We are extremely proud and pleased to unveil our new branch in Dambulla. Being a national distribution and trading hub for agricultural produce and a key tourist hotspot, it’s a region that we’ve been planning to expand into for some time.”

Daniel further stated that “Dambulla is home to a thriving population and a large community of small and medium enterprises involved in trade, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing. These customers have become a focus area for us over the last couple of years and we look forward to building lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with individuals and businesses in the region through our Dambulla Branch.”

Nations Trust Bank offers a wide range of savings options, investment plans, current accounts and loans for personal or business purposes along with a host of other financial products and services. Customers can bank conveniently and have access to their funds 24/7 through Nations Mobile Banking and Nations Online Banking, which are both fully featured digital platforms that allow for seamless access from anywhere. Nations Mobile Banking also provides native support for all three major languages, creating an inclusive experience for all.

Nations Trust Bank PLC is amongst the top 30 business establishments in Sri Lanka as ranked by Business Today Magazine, ably providing a host of financial products and services to a wide range of customers. Nations Trust is also the bank behind Sri Lanka’s first fully digital bank, FriMi.

SampathCards, the card that keeps on giving, has dialed up the festivities this holiday season with an even more amazing mix of discounts and privileges.

Sampath Mastercard, Visa Credit Cardholders and Sampath Bank American Express Credit Card members will be able to indulge in the best that the season has to offer with the savings of up to 50% on offer at over 1,500 partner outlets islandwide.

From the trendiest looks to idyllic holidays to gourmet treats to home essentials and everything in between, SampathCards has got it all covered to help cardholders create unforgettable experiences for their loved ones and themselves.

“At SampathCards, we continue to redefine Sri Lanka’s payment cards landscape and indulge our cardholders with a host of unparalleled deals, benefits and privileges all year round. Thanking them for giving us the opportunity to serve them day in and day out, we are delighted to present an even more amazing array of offers this festive season. We look forward to seeing our cardholders avail the deals on offer and have a memorable festive season with their loved ones,” said Kusal De Silva, Head ofCard Centre, Remittances & Bank Notes Operations, Sampath Bank PLC.

“Cardholders have always viewed SampathCards as the card that keeps on giving all through the year. Going beyond providing a wide array of credit cards with an exceptional range of services, we have always focused on offering them the biggest and best deals,” said Darshin Pathinayake, Senior Manager - Card Marketing, Remittances, KPO & Bank Notes Operations, Sampath Bank PLC. “Continuing to delight them year after year, we are excited to offer greater discounts at more merchant partners across a wider selection of categories during this festive season. We invite them to avail the discounts on offer and ring in the season with their friends and family.”

Going beyond festive purchases, SampathCards is also offering a host of discounts and privileges at several other partners covering healthcare, eyewear and hearing aids, baby and kids’ items, books, and motor care.

Thus, SampathCards continues to keep on giving, making it the ideal choice for discerning individualswho seek to indulge in the best that life has to offer.

The winners of the first five weekly draws out of15 weekly drawsbeing conducted as part ofthe 12th edition of Ceylinco Life’s ‘Family Savari’promotion have been presented weekend hotel stays by the life insurance leader.

S. Sureshini of Jaffna, J. Thevamalar ofKilinochchi, S. Mathushana of Hatton, S. Thilakeswaran of Manippai and M.C.J. Wijethunga of Nattandiyawere the lucky winners of these draws which commenced on September 1.

Ten more families who purchase life insurance policies from Ceylinco Life before the year runs out will be eligible to enter the weekly draws and stand a chance to win exciting vacations.

All 15 winners will also participate in the Grand Draw which will take place in January 2019, at which overseas tours to Australia, China and Singapore as well as a day’s outing at Leisure Worldcan be won.

The Family Savari weekly draw is a new addition to the already spectacular promotion that has, for the past 12 years, treated Ceylinco Life policyholders to overseas travel and family fun days at Leisure World.

Easily the largest customer promotion in Sri Lanka’s life insurance sector, the latest edition of Ceylinco Life Family Savari will benefit 2,260 people from 565 policyholder families, with 65 families winning overseas holidays – 50 families to Singapore, 10 families to China and five to Sydney – and 500 families spending a day at the Leisure World theme park, in addition to the 15 families who will win hotel stays.

Conducted annually since 2006, the Ceylinco Life Family Savari promotion is intended to increase the penetration of life insurance and to reward policyholders for keeping their policies active. All active long term Ceylinco Life policyholders, holders of Ceylinco Life Retirement Plans and new policyholders who purchase a policy, pay three months’ premium and keep their policies active are eligible to win these holidays. Depending on the size of their policies or the balances in their Retirement Plans, some policyholders would be eligible to qualify for the draws for all four categories of prizes.

The market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance sector since 2004, Ceylinco Life has close to a million lives covered by active policies.

The company is acknowledged as the benchmark for innovation in the local insurance industry for its work in product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced a partnership with Singer Sri Lanka to offer Mastercard cardholders attractive discounts on a wide range of consumer electronics, furniture and more during this holiday season.

Mastercard cardholders can avail 10% savings on selected items at all Singer Mega, Singer Home, Singer Plus and Sisil World outlets, island wide, when paying with their Mastercard credit and debit cards. This is applicable to purchases made until January 25, 2019.

The discounts on offer come at a time when most homes are looking to upgrade their electronic goods and furniture for the New Year. This is part of Mastercard’s continued efforts to reward cardholders and promote the usage of electronic payments in Sri Lanka.

“We are excited to partner with Mastercard to offer our customers further savings on a whole range of electronics, furniture and other home essentials from some of the world’s most renowned brands. We invite them to avail this deal and give their homes a makeover during this holiday season,” said Kumar Samarasinghe, Marketing Director, Singer Sri Lanka.

“Mastercard is delighted to partner Singer Sri Lanka, one of the country’s premier consumer durables’ retailers, in bringing festive cheer across the country.

The attractive discounts on offer on a wide range of products are sure to help Mastercard cardholders spruce up their homes over the holidays. Mastercard will continue to work with all partners on rewarding cardholders with even more benefits and privileges. Mastercard would like to wish all partners and cardholders the very best for the season,” said R. B. Santosh Kumar, Country Manager – Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mastercard.

LB Finance PLC, which is one of the early pioneers of Islamic Financing in the Sri Lankan Non-Banking Financial sector, was recognized with multiple awards at the recently concluded third Islamic Finance Forum for South Asia (IFFSA) awards 2018 in Colombo.

The competitive IFFSA Awards, evaluated and assessed by a panel of independent judges of repute recognizes the contributions made by individuals and institutions to the Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) industry in the South Asian region was held at the conclusion of the IFFSA conference with the participation of delegates from five countries. LB Finance Al-Salamah Islamic Finance Unit was recognized among the top three Leasing companies of the year, and window/unit of the year, continuously proving its strong stability and the success journey through the years.

LB Finance PLC became one of the pioneers in Islamic Financing in the Non-Banking Financial sector when they established Al-Salamah Islamic Finance Unit in 2010 offering financial services conforming to all the guidelines and requirements stipulated by the Islamic law. LB Al-Salamah went on to be awarded as the best emerging Islamic Finance Entity of the year in 2012 at the first SLIBFI awards. Further in 2017 the company was recognized with the bronze award in the category, “Entity of the year” for the overall performance unveiled and Silver for “Social Upliftment” for the year 2017 for the continuous social responsible activities rendered to the society. Adding up to the “Bridging the Gap” program conducted from 2013 to uplift the standard of educational knowledge among rural GCE Ordinary Level students in remote underprivileged schools LB Finance recently developed 150 under privileged pre schools to lend a helping hand to develop the primary education in the island.

LB Finance Islamic Finance Unit offers a wide range of personalized products and services including Mudarabah fixed and savings deposits, Wakala term investments, Ijarah leasing facilities and Murabaha trade financing.,Today LB Al-Salamah is considered to be one of the leading Islamic Finance Windows in the Sri Lankan Non-banking Financial sector.

Despite operating in an almost generic product feature driven market, LB Finance Al-Salamah has successfully differentiated to become a leading player in the Islamic Finance industry with enhanced and superior operational effeciencies in terms of unmatched fast delivery and convenience through their strong branch network scattered around the island. Their unmatched superior distribution reach is further enhanced with the setting up of exclusive stand-alone units and the establishment of special appointees totally devoted for Islamic Financial services in the high Muslim density areas in the country. In the near future the Islamic Finance Central Administration unit of LB Finance will expand to Maradana to provide a convenient and customized service for the customers island wide and in the area. In addition to being monitored by a well qualified and experienced Sharia Supervisory Board, all LB Al-Salamah products are governed by the Central Bank’s regulatory framework for lending and deposits.

Retail outlets at Colombo City Centre, Sri Lanka’s trendiest shopping mall, have been powered by Point-of-Sale (POS) machines supplied by Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

Nearly 50 POS machines have already been installed attenant stores including DSI Footwear, Food Studio, Abans, Abans Elite, McDonald’s, Living Colours, Abans Apple 1, and Nature’s Beauty Creation Ltd, the Bank said.

As a result, holders of Credit and Debit cards issued by Commercial Bank enjoy a host of benefits when they shop at the Colombo City Centre mall, including Easy Payment Plans, COMDEALS discounts and regular discounts at selected outlets all year around. They will also be able to earn Max Loyalty Rewards points when they pay for their purchases.

Additionally, diners who patronise the China Street Food, Fresh Intention by Roots, Grub Singapore, Isle of Gelato, Jagro, Midah Sisters, Okra Kitchen, Punch, Teafarer, The Little Prince, Mango Tree, Tokyo Shokudo, Shiok and Sumatran Spice restaurants at the atrium ‘Food Studio’ would be entitled to discounts of 20% on payments by Credit Card and 10% by Debit Card on every week day till 20thDecember 2018, the Bank said.

Commercial Bank Credit and Debit Cards offer year-round promotions covering a wide variety of services. Commercial Bank was the first bank to offer loyalty rewardspointsfor both Credit and Debit Cardholders under its Max Loyalty Rewards Points scheme.

The Bank was also a pioneer in extending promotional discount offers, which were traditionally only offered for Credit Cards to its Debit Cards.

Commercial Bank cards are the fastest growing cards in Sri Lanka and enjoy market leadership in Credit and Debit Card cumulative point-of-sale usage. The Bank offers a variety of Credit Cards in the Classic, Gold and Platinum tiers of both Visa and Mastercard as well as Visa Signature, World Mastercard and Visa Infinite cards in the premium segment. The cards are equipped with ‘Tap n Go’ NFC technology and are backed by a strong NFC Point-of-Sale (POS) network.

Wall Street shares have risen sharply after the US central bank indicated there may not be as many future interest rate rises.

In a speech, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said interest rates are “just below” a neutral level that neither hastens nor slows growth.

Last month, he had said the bank had a “long way” to go before reaching that level.

His remarks come after repeated attacks by President Donald Trump.

Trump blames the Fed’s recent rate rises for recent stock market declines and has described future rate increases as the biggest risk to the US economy.

The president, who selected Mr Powell to lead the bank last year, has also said he is not happy with his pick.

Powell, who was speaking at the Economic Club in New York, did not address the criticism directly.

But he appeared to soften his tone about future rate rises while continuing to defend the Fed’s plans for gradual increases.

“Interest rates are still low by historical standards, and they remain just below the broad range of estimates of the level that would be neutral for the economy - that is, neither speeding up nor slowing down growth,” he said.

He added: “There is no preset policy path. We will be paying very close attention to what incoming economic and financial data are telling us.”

The Dow and the Nasdaq indexes both jumped more than 2% after the comments, while the S&P 500 gained 1.7%.

The US economy has enjoyed a healthy expansion this year, spurred in part by increased government spending and a major tax cut.

Job creation has been strong and gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualised rate of 3.5% in the most recent quarter. However, many economists expect that pace to slow next year as the effects of the stimulus fade. In his speech, Powell said he viewed gradual increases as the best way to balance the risks of causing problems by raising rates too fast or too slowly.

BBC News

The total value of goods carried by the logistics sector surged to 231.5 trillion yuan ($33.3 trillion) in the first 10 months, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement.

The total amount was up 6.6 percent year-on-year.

The growth rate, however, edged down 0.1 percentage points when compared with that for the first three quarters of the year. Logistics expenditure was 10.7 trillion yuan in the first 10 months, up 8.6 percent, which was 1.8 percentage points lower than a year earlier. The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) stood at 54.5 percent in October, up 1.4 percentage points from September, the federation said.

A reading above 50 percent indicates expansion from the previous month, while a reading below indicates contraction.

The sector’s stable performance came amid steady growth of China’s economy, which expanded 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year, above the government’s annual growth target of around 6.5 percent. (Chinadaily.com)

Satya Nadella-led Microsoft surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. All it took was a $300 billion rout.

After briefly claiming the top spot on Monday, Microsoft shares rose 0.6% on Tuesday, pushing the company’s market value to $828.1 billion at the close.

That exceeded by more than $1 billion the value of Apple, which has tumbled this month on concern about iPhone unit sales. The last time Microsoft’s market capitalisation was bigger than that of Apple was in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The rise of cloud computing changed Microsoft’s fortunes about five years ago. Under Nadella, who was appointed CEO in 2014, the company invested heavily in data centres and other infrastructure to run applications and store data for corporate customers. The move paid off handsomely. When he took over, the share price was at about $38. Today, it’s almost three times as much, at $109.

Nadella, 50, grew up in Hyderabad and Delhi. His father, BN Yugandhar, an IAS officer, went on to become a Planning Commission member.

Nadella did his engineering from Manipal University between 1984 and 1988, and then went to the US where he received a Masters in computer science and an MBA. He worked briefly with Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft in 1992. At Microsoft, he worked in a variety of businesses, from core enterprise products to online services including Bing, MSN and the cloud platform Azure. As CEO, Nadella took the path-breaking decision early on to delink Microsoft’s Office work productivity software from its Windows operating system, and offered the former as a subscription service over the internet and on other companies’ devices, including Apple’s. It also stopped making smartphone hardware, while boosting the quality of its tablet and PC designs.

A recent stock market swoon has taken a toll on nearly all technology companies. But investors have punished consumer-focused companies like Apple and Amazon.com more than firms that mostly cater to businesses, like Microsoft. It’s down 6.3% since the start of October, while Apple has lost 23%.

Starting more than a decade ago, Microsoft fell behind Apple as computing shifted from desktop machines to mobile devices like iPhones, making Microsoft’s PC dominance less relevant.

Attempts to regain its footing by acquiring Nokia’s handset business and releasing its own phones led to expensive writedowns.

Today, Microsoft is second behind Amazon Web Services in the cloud. That’s insulated Microsoft’s stock from worries about declining consumer spending on devices and increased regulation of digital advertising businesses like Facebook and Alphabet’s Google. (The Times of India)

Every year the Marlbo Trading Company has had a Year End Sale. In keeping with that tradition, this year also, Marlbo has made arrangements to organize the Year End Sale with the intention of passing all the benefits to the end users and our valuable customers including the new prospects.

All products that will be showcased at the Year End Sale are of world renowned brands which carry the latest and advanced technology.

The sale will be held on November, 30 2018 and December 1, 2018 in our office premises. The pre promotional island-wide campaign has been done following the conventional methods as well as through the social media in keeping with the current marketing trends. “We have also kept to the accepted professional ethics in the conduct of this sale in a fully fledged manner. We presume that all the benefits will go to the respective buyers who will get the value for their money. Therefore, we invite those who are interested to visit us,” an official said.

Asian markets mostly rose on Wednesday (Nov 28) on hopes for a positive outcome from Donald Trump’s high-stakes trade talks with Xi Jinping, while dovish comments from the Federal Reserve’s number-two suggested the bank could slow its pace of interest rate hikes.

Wall Street provided a positive lead following soothing comments from top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow on the chances of a trade deal when the leaders of the world’s top two economies meet Saturday.

“The president said there’s a good possibility we can make a deal and he’s open to it but certain conditions have to be met, certain things have to be changed,” Kudlow told a White House briefing.

The remarks came a day after Trump warned that if he cannot reach a deal with Xi he expects to increase tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese goods and impose levies on all the other goods the US imports from the country.

While observers do not expect a wide-ranging deal to be made at the meeting, which takes place on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Buenos Aires, there is the possibility of an agreement that will allow the two to reach a consensus down the line. “It will depend a lot about the kind of comments that will come out after the meeting,” Massimiliano Bondurri, founder and chief executive officer of SGMC Capital in Singapore, told Bloomberg TV.

“We don’t expect anything saying a deal will never be found, we expect some formal comments will be made as in discussions will be ongoing, but we haven’t found any agreement as of yet, so that’s likely to weigh on the risk sentiment on global markets.” Channel NewsAsia

Experts have called for accelerated moves for exploring blue economy saying it could reach the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to a staggering 10% growth in one decade with Bangladesh’s now expanded maritime boundary.

“If we can properly tap the potentials of ‘blue-economy,’ then we will be able to raise the GDP growth to 10% in the next one decade,” Prof Mustafizur Rahman, honorary fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue, told the BSS.

He also cited bright prospect in Bangladesh’s marine-resources based “blue economy” following the settlement of maritime boundary disputes with neighbouring Myanmar and India. “We need to properly extract marine resources, protect these resources and thus utilize those in a sustainable manner,” Dr Mustafizur said, adding that the marine resources feature different mineral resources including oil and gas alongside fisheries and aquatic resources.

Last year, the government formed the Blue Economy Cell to ensure proper exploration of marine resources besides ensuring proper coordination in this sector. Additional Secretary Golam Shafiuddin, who is also in charge of this cell, told the BSS that this Blue Economy Cell has been coordinating the activities of 17 ministries and divisions concerned.

The meeting of this cell is held in every two months. He said around 5% of GDP needs to be added from the sea and marine resources to the national economy to become a developed economy. “The future of marine-based economy has a bright potential and the government is very much sincere in this regard,” Shafiuddin added.

Talking to the national news agency, chairman of Department of Oceanography of the University of Dhaka Professor Dr Kawser Ahmed said “The Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act” was first enacted in 1974 during the tenure of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He said not only in Bangladesh, but many countries in the world were also not aware of such thing.

“But, Father of the Nation had such farsightedness that he had then enacted the maritime boundary related act to ensure the rights of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal.” Prof Kawser also echoed with the Blue Economy Cell chief saying that Bangladesh needs to add around 5% of GDP from the “Blue-Economy” to the national economy to attain the SDGs.

(www.dhakatribune.com)

China Eastern Airlines has announced it will purchase no more than 169 million shares of Juneyao Airlines worth no more than 3.15 billion yuan (US$456 million).

China Eastern’s subsidiary, the Eastern Airlines Industry Investment Co. Ltd., will conduct the deal with Juneyao Airlines. The money raised from the stake sales will be used to buy three Boeing aircraft and a stand-by engine, as well as to repay bank loans, according to Juneyao Airlines.

The money will also help Juneyao Airlines expand its transportation and business scope as well as its intercontinental air routes, the carrier noted.

China Eastern said the move will strengthen its strategic partnership with Juneyao Airlines, help build Shanghai into an aviation hub and echo the government’s call to boost the private sector. In 2002, Juneyao Group, the parent company of Juneyao Airlines, purchased 18 percent of the stakes of China Eastern’s Wuhan branch, the first time for a private company to buy stakes of a state-owned airlines. (China Daily)

CIPM Sri Lanka, the Nation’s leader in human resource management under the stewardship of its President Dhammika Fernando will play a key role in several important initiatives of the regional HR body Asia Pacific Federation for Human Resource Management (APFHRM).

Amongst these initiatives, CIPM Sri Lanka’s proposal for establishing an Asia Pacific Center for Excellence in Human Resource Management in Sri Lanka and the hosting of the World Congress 2020 Sri Lanka HR Conference were of particular significance.

These and other initiatives were discussed at the APFHRM Board Meeting, in which CIPM Sri Lanka President participated as the Board Member, held recently at the Westin Hotel in Pune, India along the sidelines of the NATCON India 2018 organized by the National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) India.

“As the only recognized professional body for human resource management in Sri Lanka which is gaining regional recognition for many of the groundbreaking initiatives to uplift the profession and to build capacity, CIPM Sri Lanka plays a major role in helping formulate the policy framework,” said Dhammika Fernando, President, CIPM Sri Lanka.

Establishing of the Asia Pacific Center of Excellence in HRM in Colombo would add a significant boost to the Nation among the Regional partners which has recognized the utmost importance of building up human capital in its journey towards development.

The Center of Excellence will also encourage Applied Research in HRM and studies into immerging trends in the field which will no doubt boost the opportunities while opening new vistas for the profession as a science. This discussion paper proposed by the President to the regional body is an initiative of one of CIPM Past President Jayantha Jayaratna, which will be discussed in detail by the Board when they meet in Fiji.

CIPM Sri Lanka has been awarded the honor of hosting the world’s largest HR conclave “The World HR Congress 2020” in Sri Lanka in the year 2020. This prestigious People Management conference is held every 2 years in different regions of the world under the auspices of The World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) which is headquartered in Virginia, USA. The World Congress enables HR professionals to build a global community of peers, to discuss new developments in HRM, and to network with colleagues from around the world who face similar complex challenges in human resource management.

“It is Sri Lanka’s honor and CIPM Sri Lanka’s prestige to host the World Congress 2020 in Sri Lanka. We discussed our proposed action plan running up to the World Congress 2020 at the APFHRM Board Meeting. It was decided that a planning committee be established under APFHRM to support CIPM Sri Lanka in its efforts,” he added.

Some of the other initiatives that were discussed at the APFHRM Board Meeting included the setting up and transferring of the APFHRM website to be managed by CIPM Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka’s recommendation to induct the newly formed Maldivian HR fraternity MAHRP - Maldivian Association of Human Resource Professionals as a full member , an effort which was spearheaded by the President of CIPM last year in his capacity as the External Affairs Committee Chairman of CIPM.

The Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), the Nation’s Management Mentor, presented another batch of 441 extraordinary managers at its latest convocation with the apt theme “unleashing the power to lead”, held recently at the BMICH.

Jan Kunigk, Executive Vice President of Siam City Cement PLC and the Director Marketing, Sales & Innovation at Siam City Cement Lanka Ltd, the chief guest at the convocation, delivered a fitting convocation address.

The convocation was declared open by the Chancellor, Most Ven. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thero. Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri, Director of PIM read the names of the candidates. Prof. Sampath Amarthunga, Vice Chancellor of University of Sri Jayewardenepura and several deans as well as senior academics also participated in the proceedings that followed.

The graduates who received postgraduate degrees inclusive of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and MBA were representing both private and public sectors inclusive of study groups from Colombo, Dubai and Doha. Prof. Uditha Liyanage, Gold Medal and Dr. Saman Kelegama, Gold Medal were also presented for best performers in MBA general and MBA in taxation programmes respectively.

Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Executive Director at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI), will speak at a public panel discussion entitled ‘The Great Decoupling: China, America and the Risk of a New Asian Economic Cold War’ at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

Other panellists include—Dr. Adam Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Washington, DC; Dr. Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Senior Fellow, Bruegel, Brussels; Alan Beattie, European Editorial Writer, Financial Times, London; and Prof. Yang Yao, Dean, National School of Development, Peking University and Director, China Center for Economic Research, Beijing.

The panel discussion will be moderated by James Crabtree, Associate Professor in Practice, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

The panel discussion organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, will be held on November 30, 2018, and is part of the ‘Asia in the World Economy’ round table. The round table convenes reputed academic experts and other policymakers from both Asia and the West to discuss the role of Asia in the global economy. This year’s theme is “Growth and Inclusion in Asia,” and is expected to cover a range of issues including the ongoing US-China trade war, and the future of global and Asian economic development.

LKI is a think tank that analyses Sri Lanka’s international relations and strategic interests, to provide insights and recommendations that advance justice, peace, prosperity, and sustainability. The Institute reflects the vision of the late Lakshman Kadirgamar by promoting the country’s intellectual profile in foreign policy research and engagement.

Seylan Bank PLC received honours as one of Sri Lanka’s best performing corporate entities at the Business Today’s Top 30 Awards 2017-18, held at the Shangri-La hotel, Colombo recently.

With consistent growth and performance, Seylan Bank has increased its positioning by 9 rankings since last year, and was ranked as the 11th best performing entity in this year’s listing.

Commenting on the recognition, Kapila Ariyaratne, Director/CEO of Seylan Bank PLC said, “We are extremely proud to stand tall along with some of Sri Lanka’s blue-chip organisations. Despite the challenging macro-economic conditions, our passion to innovate and deliver great value to all our stakeholders has helped us to grow sustainably and improve our overall performance and services. I would like to thank our Board of Directors, Shareholders, our dedicated employees and all our customers for their contributions that have played an integral part in yielding this position for the Seylan Bank.”

The awards platform recognised the financial performance of established blue chip organizations that stabilize the growing Sri Lankan economy. All business entities were evaluated with the assistance of KPMG Sri Lanka based on the published information of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and Social considerations for the financial year ended 31 December, 2017 and 31 March, 2018. In addition, this year’s, Business Today Awards also recognised four eminent individuals under a new category titled ‘Special Recognition’. Earlier this year, Seylan Bank was feted with awards at The Golden Globe Tigers Awards and SLIM NASCO for its marketing and service excellence. The bank also received a special recognition from Wells Fargo Bank in USA, for its continuous commitment to improve the overall efficiency levels in the global trade and other payments community systems.

Seylan Bank closed its nine months ending September 30, 2018 with a post-tax profit of Rs. 3,138 million, a moderate growth of 4.5 % over the corresponding period last year in the backdrop of challenging market conditions.

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that the country was practicing exactly the opposite to which other countries were doing in terms of macroeconomic policies.

SMEs need to be linked up to a stable market base in order to reduce the financial problems.

Gracing the Experience Sharing Forum on local economic development in practice organized by the Industrial Services Bureau (ISB), he said that been second only to Japan at the time of independence on any social economic indicators, Sri Lanka had reduced its standings at a considerable state.

Difficulty in managing the performance of the budget and unsustainable development had paved the way for this.

“There are three key challenges faced in terms of macroeconomic policy making: government revenue policy making as a percentage to GDP, concessional and non concessional debt as a percentage to foreign debt and merchandise export as a percentage of GDP.” he said.

Accordingly the revenue needs to be increased in order to get out of the budget deficit problem. The current revenue of the country is 13.8% to GDP which should be increased up to 16.5%. The current expenditure rate is 20% GDP.

“In 2006 we had a non concessional debt percentage of 7.3 which increased to 54.8 by now. After been relieved from the low income state in 2007, the country had to rely on non concessional debts. Using these grants in projects which had given lesser returns in recent times had resulted in this situation. Hence we should concentrate more on obtaining greater return for our borrowing.”

Accounting for the recent statistics, merchandise exports have faced tremendous decrease of 13% in 2017 with comparison to year 2000. Unavailability of strategies to diversify the export products and not been able to make our products more complex has led to this situation.

“Only 7% of our exports are part of the regional or global export chain due to exchange rate been uncompetitive and the high import rates,” he further added.

(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Qatar Chamber and Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Employment held a meeting in Doha on Monday to discuss cooperation between the two sides regarding recruitment opportunities.

Qatar Chamber First vice-chairman Mohamed bin Towar al-Kuwari and Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Secretary Yamuna Perera discussed ways to manage the challenges and opportunities in the field of employment, Qatar Chamber said in a statement.

Al-Kuwari said the Qatari market welcomes qualified and trained laborers from Sri Lanka, and described the Sri Lankan community in Qatar as "good and of high quality."

Yamuna Perera called on the Chamber to urge businessmen in Qatar to recruit more laborers in their companies, adding that there are 117,000 Sri Lankans working in Qatar. The Sri Lankan official also noted that Sri Lankan laborers in Qatar are treated well.

Qatar's Visa center in Sri Lanka will facilitate recruitment procedures, as it operates based on an integrated electronic system for the implementation of procedures, such as medical examination, fingerprint and biometrics, and the signing of work contracts before laborers arrive in Qatar.

(Gulf Times)

The 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Central Securities Depository Group (ACG) hosted by Central Depository Systems (Pvt) Ltd (CDS), a fully owned subsidiary of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), commenced today in Colombo with delegates from 25 depositories and clearing organizations in participation.

The event breaks new ground for the Sri Lankan capital market as it marks the largest gathering of depositories and clearing organizations Sri Lanka has ever hosted. This annual gathering has been held for 21 consecutive years since 1997 and is the main event in the ACG calendar.

The event this year, is held on the theme “FinTech – shifting or shaping the future of CSDs” and will discuss areas such as the future direction of CSDs, embracing technological change and the outlook of the CSD Industry with a specific focus on considerations for Asia-Pacific (APAC). China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Bhutan, Nepal, Iran, Taiwan, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Hong Kong are represented at the event.

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, speaking on FinTech and its implications on the financial services industry stated “Whether an industry is shifting or shaping because of FinTech largely depends on where the industry is. If it is not digitized, FinTech will shift it. You will see that some jobs will be replaced along with trading patterns. If not, FinTech can concurrently both shift and reshape the industry depending on where it envisions itself. The most important factor is for the sector and the region to have a clear view of what outcome it wants through FinTech. It must not be done because it is fashionable. FinTech must be used to solve issues and open new vistas, expand business and benefit from the new types of interconnectivity it offers.”

SEC Chairman Mr. Ranel T. Wijesinha speaking at the event congratulated CDS Sri Lanka for hosting the 22nd ACG AGM and stated that the SEC is deeply committed to providing the assistance and support that is necessary for CDS Sri Lanka to play a larger role in the ACG and in the international stage. Sharing his remarks on FinTech, Mr. Wijesinha stated that embracing technology remains to be a key priority for capital markets around the world, and also went on to outline the importance of strongly considering all risk management aspects when implementing innovative technologies.  

As Americans scoured the internet in search of shopping deals on Friday, Amazon.com warehouse workers in Europe were protesting the e-commerce giant - in some cases walking off the job to highlight what they said were unsafe working conditions and low pay.

The protests struck Amazon across the continent, including in Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. In Britain, union officials representing Amazon workers predicted that hundreds would appear at protests throughout the day in five locations.

"The conditions our members at Amazon are working under are frankly inhuman," said Tim Roache, general secretary of GMB, in a statement on the organization's website. "They are breaking bones, being knocked unconscious and being taken away in ambulances."

Earlier this year, the UK-based group said a Freedom of Information request aimed at first-responders showed that ambulances had responded to calls for help at Amazon facilities roughly 600 times over the past three years.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Guardian: "Our European Fulfillment Network is fully operational and we continue to focus on delivering for our customers and reports to the contrary are simply wrong." (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

More than 600 workers have gone on strike in Germany, where workers earn a starting salary of about $12 an hour, according to Reuters. And in Spain, one employee told The Associated Press that the walkout was deliberately timed for "one of the days that Amazon has most sales." Amazon Workers Use Black Friday To Protest ''Inhuman'' Working Conditions Read In Black Friday is a huge deal in Europe. So Amazon workers there are walking off the job in protest.

Amazon workers in Spain, Germany and Britain went on strike on the day of the "Black Friday" sales.

Highlights Protests struck Amazon in Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK More than 600 workers have gone on strike in Germany Amazon defended its workforce record in a statement to Mashable

As Americans scoured the internet in search of shopping deals on Friday, Amazon.com warehouse workers in Europe were protesting the e-commerce giant - in some cases walking off the job to highlight what they said were unsafe working conditions and low pay.

The protests struck Amazon across the continent, including in Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. In Britain, union officials representing Amazon workers predicted that hundreds would appear at protests throughout the day in five locations.

"The conditions our members at Amazon are working under are frankly inhuman," said Tim Roache, general secretary of GMB, in a statement on the organization's website. "They are breaking bones, being knocked unconscious and being taken away in ambulances."

Earlier this year, the UK-based group said a Freedom of Information request aimed at first-responders showed that ambulances had responded to calls for help at Amazon facilities roughly 600 times over the past three years.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Guardian: "Our European Fulfillment Network is fully operational and we continue to focus on delivering for our customers and reports to the contrary are simply wrong." (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

More than 600 workers have gone on strike in Germany, where workers earn a starting salary of about $12 an hour, according to Reuters. And in Spain, one employee told The Associated Press that the walkout was deliberately timed for "one of the days that Amazon has most sales."

"These are days when we can hurt more and make ourselves be heard because the company has not listened to us," said Eduardo Hernandez, in an interview with the AP. Spanish employees last walked out in May, when workers at an Amazon facility near Madrid went on strike during the company's annual Prime Day sales event. (www.ndtv.com)

Hong Kong is the best location in Asia for setting up a financial company, according to a research published on Thursday by global real estate services and management company Colliers International. Another survey, released the same day by accounting firm PwC and US-headquartered think tank Urban Land Institute (ULI), however, found the city’s investment attractiveness was on the decline.

In the ranking by Colliers, the special administrative region tops a list of cities in Asia for setting up finance companies because of its high market capitalisation, cross-border banking, inward flowing investment and large population of resident billionaires. Tokyo came a close second while Singapore was in third position.

“The increasing importance of financial technology, and Hong Kong’s emergence as a fintech centre due to its proximity to China are key reasons for optimism about the city’s ability to remain a leading financial centre,” said Fiona Ngan, head of office services in Hong Kong at Colliers.

Colliers, however, did point out that Hong Kong scored poorly as far as employer costs were concerned, partly because of the world’s highest office rents in its central business district. For instance, BitMEX, a trading platform for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, last month rented the entire 45th floor of the Cheung Kong Center for HK$225 (US$28.7) per square foot per month, which makes it the most expensive office in Hong Kong.

But the company has forecast a slowdown in Hong Kong office rent increases starting in 2019, due to mounting tensions around the US-China trade war and a Hang Seng Index that is in bear territory. (South China Morning Post)

EU leaders have approved an agreement on the UK's withdrawal and future relations - insisting it is the "best and only deal possible".

This is after 20 months of negotiations, the 27 leaders gave the deal their blessing after less than an hour's discussion.

They said the deal - which needs to be approved by the UK Parliament - paved the way for an "orderly withdrawal". Theresa May said the deal "delivered for the British people" and set the UK "on course for a prosperous future".

Speaking in Brussels, she urged both Leave and Remain voters to unite behind the agreement, insisting the British public "do not want to spend any more time arguing about Brexit".

The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 29 March 2019.

The EU officially endorsed the terms of the UK's withdrawal during a short meeting, bringing to an end European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said anyone in Britain who thought the bloc might offer improved terms if MPs rejected the deal would be "disappointed".

But European Council President Donald Tusk, who broke the news of the agreement on Twitter, said he would not speculate on what would happen in such a situation, saying: "I am not a fortune teller."

The UK Parliament is expected to vote on the deal in early December, but its approval is far from guaranteed.

Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the DUP and many Conservatives MPs are set to vote against.

May has appealed to the public to get behind the agreement, saying that although it involved compromises it was a "good deal that unlocks a bright future for the UK".

At a news conference in Brussels, she said the agreement would end freedom of movement "in full and once and for all" protect the constitutional integrity of the UK and ensure a return to "laws being made in our country by democratically elected politicians interpreted and enforced by British courts".

The agreement, she added, would not remove Gibraltar from the "UK family" - a reference to a last-minute wrangle with Spain over the territory.

May will now need to persuade MPs in the UK Parliament to back it.

She is expected to spend the next fortnight travelling the country trying to sell the deal before a parliamentary vote in the second week of December.

If MPs reject the deal, a number of things could happen - including leaving with no deal, an attempt to renegotiate or a general election.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the parliamentary arithmetic was "looking challenging" and warned "nothing could be ruled out" if May lost the vote, including the government collapsing.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the UK was getting "between 70% and 80%" of what it wanted, while the agreement "mitigated" most of the negative economic impacts. Asked if the UK would be better off than if it stayed in, he said the country would not be "significantly worse or better off but it does mean we get our independence back".

The agreement will also have to go back to the European Council, where a majority of countries (20 out of 27 states) will need to vote for it.

It will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament, in a vote expected to take place in early 2019.

Industrial Services Bureau (ISB) has organized a national level Experience Sharing Forum on Local Economic Development in Practice under the theme of Shaping Local Economy Through Lessons Learnt, on November 28, 2018 at the Centre for Banking Studies, Central Bank, Rajagiriya, Colombo.

Industrial Services Bureau (ISB) is a statutory body established under the North Western Provincial Council in mid 1990 with the focus of economic development through investment promotion and industrialization. ISB now function as the fully self-financing organization based in Kurunegala and providing their services throughout the country in different target groups and clients with highly diversified service portfolio.

The objective of this forum is to create an opportunity for various development agencies and individual experts to share their experience in four important themes of local economic development – Local Economic Development Through Regional Industrialization; Market System Approach for Local Economic Development; Role of Producer Organizations/Social Enterprises in Local Economic Development; and Sustainable Consumption and Production in Local Economic Development. K C Logeswaran, Governor, North Western Province will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest. Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, will deliver the keynote address as the guest of honour.

The forum will consist of four technical sessions and each session will consist of a paper presentation for about 30 - 45 minutes and a panel discussion for about 45 – 60 minutes. A group of nationally recognized experts in local economic development will join in panel discussions. The panel comprise with the representatives from Academia, Policy makers, Ministry Secretaries, INOs/NGOs, Development Agencies, Public and Private sector.

The first session of the programme will commence with the presentation on Local Economic Development through Regional Industrialization – A Case Study on Heraliyawela Industrial Park, Kurunegala (9.30 – 11.00 am) In this session, the impacts of Heraliyawela Industrial Park, Kurunegala, North Western Province on local economic development will be analyzed in order to explore the possibilities of replicating this model in less developed areas in the country as a source of SME development, regional industrialization and creating new employment opportunities.

Neelakanth Wanninayake, Executive Director/CEO, Industrial Services Bureau (ISB) is the presenter of this session. This will be followed by a panel discussion comprising of Dr. Aminda Perera, Senior Lecturer, Wayamba University, Lawrance Madapatha, Executive Director (Zones) BOI, Roy Jayasinghe, Consultant to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Chandrarathne Vithanage, Asst. Secretary General Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and an award winning local entrepreneur Nashad Nawaz, Managing Director Wayamba Print Pack.

The second session will focus on Market System Approach for Local Economic Development.

This session will focus on how far the value chain development approach is appropriate to address the market system development and identification of gaps in the implementation stage of both value chain analysis and value chain development.

The third session will address the thematic area on Developing Producer Organizations into Social Enterprises. Many development agencies are using various Producer Organization-led livelihood/enterprise development models as a mean of creating more income and employment generating opportunities for the members of PO, as sustainable way out of poverty. However, the efficacy of these models is questionable due to many failures, despite few success cases. Therefore, in this session, these PO-led models will be analyzed with few case studies, and seek the possibility of developing them successful social enterprises.

Finally the fourth session will focus on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) – (3.30 – 5.00 pm). Addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become a must for all development agencies in planning in their interventions particularly in developing countries. Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is the Goal No. 12 of SDG.

In analyzing of past development projects, the application of this SDG has been comparatively low. Sri Lanka has prepared a SCP policy document with the consultation of many relevant stakeholders.

The event would mainly focus on the practical experience gained by ISB during the last three decades while working with different bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors and development agencies.

The Bank of Ceylon installed its 1000th ATM/CDM point in Kuliyapitiya 2nd branch on the 26th November 26, 2018 in line with the opening of newly relocated Kuliyapitiya second Branch.

Expanding the reach to facilitate every Sri Lankan with the digital technology, the Bank of Ceylon becomes the only Bank to own a CDM/ATM Network with 1,000 machines in Sri Lanka. The 1,000th machine was opened by Deputy General Manager Sales and Channel Management C. Amarasinghe.

As a part of the objec tive to empower Sri Lankans through digitalizing the banking landscape of the country, BOC began its digital transformation journey way back in 2015 and now operating at its best.

Customers throughout the country can enjoy seamless banking transaction 24 x 7 conveniently and securely with these strategically located CDM/ ATM machines. Another objective the Bank has fulfilled was to take the latest banking technology over the boundaries of Colombo and its suburbs to other areas of the country.

“We are happy to announce that our mission to empower Sri Lankans throughout the country, to access convenience of Banking despite geographical barriers, have been a success story and we have enriched lives of the rural population through our digitization strategy. We have connected our customers to transact among each other wherever they are and whenever they want,” stated the Head of IT Laxman Perera.

“Our reach has become one of our greatest strengths, it strengthen our claim on the title-Banker’s to the Nation’. This initiative is another step forward to provide a reliable and convenient banking service to customers around the clock, we look forward to move forward with this process by identifying more strategic hot-spots in outer Colombo areas,” Deputy General Manager Sales and Channel Management, C. Amarasinghe said.

Aitken Spence PLC won the coveted ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2018’ at the annual awards ceremony organised by Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Hatton National Bank PLC and Nestlé Lanka PLC became the first and second runner respectively at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo.

In addition CBL Investments Limited, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, Mas Intimates (Pvt) Ltd, Sampath Bank PLC, Citizens Development Business Finance PLC, Bank of Ceylon, and Access Engineering PLC, were recognized as the top ten corporate citizens of the year.

Citizens Development Business Finance Plc won the Less than Rs. 15 billion Annual turn over ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2018’ offered under ‘Category B’, while Link Natural Products (Pvt) Ltd became the first runner up Category B.

MAS Intimates (Pvt) Ltd won a Triple Bottom Line Award for its work on Environmental Sustainability, Aitken Spence PLC was recognized for its contribution made towards Social Sustainability, while Hatton National Bank PLC was awarded for its actions on Economic Sustainability.

Under Category Awards, MAS Intimates (Pvt) Ltd won category awards for Environmental Commitment,Environmental Integration and Community Relations. Aitken Spence PLC was awarded for Environment Beyond the Business, Employee Relations, and Customer Relations. Sirio Ltd was recognized for Financial Performance, and Hatton National Bank PLC for its efforts in Economic Contribution. Further, there was a tie between Sampath Bank PLC and National Development Bank Plc for the Governance category award.The sector awards were won by Access Engineering for the Construction Sector, Hatton National Bank PLC for Finance Sector, Nestlé Lanka PLC for Manufacturing sector, Aitken Spence PLC for Diversified Holdings while Sri Lanka Telecom PLC won a sector award under the ‘Other’ category. Under the Best Sustainability Project Awards, Camso Loadstar (Pvt) Ltd was awarded for its project on ‘2.8MWp Solar PV Installation in Camso Loadstar (PVT) Ltd’, CBL Foods International (Pvt) Limited was awarded for its Bio Fertilizer Production Using Effluent Sludge project, and Elpitiya Plantations PLC - Haritha Shakthi was recognized for the Formulation of the Company’s Sustainability Strategy Embedded in the Company’s Strategic Business Plan. HJS Condiments Limited was recognized for uplifting the Living Standards of the Eastern Province.

For Consistent Commitment and Continuous Improvement, Aitken Spence PLC was recognized in Environmental Commitment, Environmental Integration, Customer Relations, and Community Relations. Hatton National Bank PLC was awarded this certificate under the Environment Beyond the Business category, Ceylon Biscuits Limited/CBL Investments Limited for the Employee Relations category, National Development Bank PLC for the Governance category, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC for Financial Performance, and Sri Lanka Telecom PLC for the Economic Contribution category.

The award for the Best Presented Application was won by Nestlé Lanka PLC.

With the recent changes in prices for rubber in the world market, the rubber prices in Sri Lanka too has witnessed a decline with the average price for 2018 been Rs. 275.

“Been in the top standings of the production of rubber in the world, it is somewhat disappointing to find the standing gone down,” said Chairman, Colombo Rubber Traders Association (CRTA), Amanda Weerasinghe.

The annual export for rubber has also decreased to 25,000 tons from 70,000 to 80,000 tons. However many new job opportunities has been created in the value added industry. Loosing rubber cultivated lands for development projects like expansion of villages, industrial zones and palm cultivation has affected the manufacturing process immensely.

Many industries are compelled to import rubber to the country for their manufacturing processes as the local industry is incapable of fulfilling the demand. “I am personally not happy about the future of this industry. Innovations are critical to uplift this industry and all parties should cooperate with this,” Weerasinghe said. Meanwhile CRTA also launched a centennial postage stamp to commence their 100th anniversary yesterday. The occasion was graced by Minister of Postal and Telecommunication C.V Rathnayake, and Minister of Plantation Industries S.M Chandrasena.

According to S.M Chandrasena, there is no significant progress in the rubber industry. However various researches are on the way to find solutions to uplift this industry. “Due to the low prices of Rubber people are uprooting rubber plantations and looking at alternatives.”

The Rubber Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, which had identified the interests of the Rubber trade since 1891, identified the need for a separate forum to promote the interests of the Rubber industry. Hence the CRTA was formally inaugurated in 1918 to meet these requirements.

Since then CRTA had been assisting rubber dealers, exporters and owners to develop this industry to acquire profits.

“Our basic plantation industries are tea, rubber and coconut. Therefore as a member of the cabinet we must take steps to develop these to uplift the economy. ” said C.V Rathnayake.

The Blockchain committee, under the purview of the National Payments Council (NPC), chaired by Central Bank (CBSL) is currently studying the feasibility of developing the Blockchain technology in the areas of ‘Blockchain based shared KYC’, in Trade Finance and Insurance and other sectors.

CBSL has been fostering industry wide collaboration and the digital payment innovation policies are spearheaded by the NPC. It has spearheaded developments in FinTech as well as Blockchain technology.

Accordingly, two committees FinTech and Blockchain under the NPC have been appointed.

FinTech committee has been responsible for developing standardized national QR code and National Transit card for Sri Lanka, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said at the 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Asia Pacific Central Securities Depository Group (ACG) in Colombo yesterday.

Dr. Coomaraswamy also noted that CBSL is supportive of FinTech innovations and has initiated a regulatory sandbox, to provide FinTech companies with the necessary guidance when developing their products in a safe and secure environment.

“As regulators, our priority is to maintain the stability and support economic growth. In this respect, digitisation has given the regulators many opportunities. We have seen numerous benefits in terms of easing entry barriers to markets, correcting information asymmetry and promoting inclusive growth policies.”

He also emphasised the need to use FinTech to solve issues, open new vistas, expand businesses and generate benefits from new types of interconnectivity it offers.

With regard to payments and settlement landscape, the CBSL is continually aligning its infrastructure with international best practices, Governor Coomaraswamy noted.

“We are also in the process of developing data security standards to ensure that Sri Lanka is in line with the global mutual data protection requirements. As financial services are increasingly becoming digitised, FinTech innovation becomes a necessary norm in the global financial market.”

In addition, CBSL plans to establish a state-of-the-art electronic trading platform and a central counterpart clearing and settlement system to facilitate electronic trading.

In addition, The National Payments Council is also looking possible ways to reduce the use of cheques in Sri Lanka and the CBSL requested the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) to consider the possibility of mandating the use of electronic payment methods currently available when making dividend payments. “It has been identified that there is a high volume of cheques issued as dividend payments from the listed companies of CSE, even for small values”, he said.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Ranel Wijesinha said the Central Depositary System (CDS) in Sri Lanka needs to be more proactive and integrated with the ACG.

He said that SEC is deeply committed to provide all the assistance and support that is necessary for the CDS to reach that goal.

Wijesinha also stressed the need to create a taskforce in order to redress issues in terms of regulations, legislation, and building infrastructure in ACG in order to be a proactive regulatory partner.

“To me, the role of the regulator is extremely important and the robust regulation is a fundamental ingredient in a sustainable market economy.”

“We can’t live in isolation in technological developments.We need to create task forces to keep abreast and ready for the technological changes to come,” Wijesinha said.

The CSE also signed two MoU’s with Korea Securities depository and China Securities Depository Company at the event. The MOU’s were signed to strengthen the cooperation, mutual development and knowledge sharing activities between CSE and CDS.

Bhubaneswar: Auto component production in 2018-19 is expected to increase by 12-14 per cent in this fiscal year, aided by robust growth in domestic and export markets. Exports of automobile components from the country were valued at $13.5 billion in 2017-18 (FY18). According to the forecast by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, exports will surge to $80 billion by 2026. The domestic auto components industry expects to register revenues of $200 billion by then. Revenues in the auto components industry have risen at a CAGR of 6.83 per cent, growing from $26.44 billion in 2007-08 to $51.20 billion in FY18.

Domestic original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) contribute 55.97 per cent to the industry’s turnover, followed by exports (26.20 per cent) and domestic aftermarket (17.82 per cent).

A report by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust established by the Ministry of Commerce, says exports of auto components from the country rose at 11.42 CAGR during 2008-09 and FY18, with the value more than doubling from $5.10 billion to $13.5 billion. Europe accounted for a volume share of 34 per cent during FY18, followed by North America and Asia, with 28 per cent and 25 per cent share, respectively.

The growth of global OEM sourcing from India and the increased indigenisation of global OEMs is turning the country into a preferred designing and manufacturing base. The Indian auto components industry is expected to register a turnover of $100 billion by 2020, backed by strong exports. The auto components industry accounts for 2.3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in FY18. During FY18, 3 million people were directly and indirectly engaged by the industry.

The IBEF study expects India to be the fourth-largest automobile producer globally by 2020 after China, the US, and Japan. Also, the auto components industry is expected to become the third-largest by 2025.

The auto components industry is expected to follow OEMs in adoption of electric vehicle (EV) technologies. The global move towards EVs will generate new opportunities for automotive suppliers. The mass conversion to EVs may generate a $300-billion domestic market for EV batteries in India by 2030.

(Indian Business Standard)

Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation will distribute aid to the value of Rs 40 million in flood affected areas of Sri Lanka today (November 28).

The foundation will provide flood aid including dry rations, water, tin sheets, children’s uniforms and books dispatching 16 lorries to 9 areas across Sri Lanka including Anuradhapura, Puttlam, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Mulaitivu and Jaffna.

Gnanam Foundation is the philanthropic organization established in 2010 co-founded by Subaskaran Allirajah and Prema Subaskaran, named after his mother Gnanambikai Allirajah.

The Foundation seeks to empower vulnerable and displaced communities impacted by conflict and climate change to build self-sufficient and sustainable livelihoods through a focus on providing access to healthcare, education, training and housing.

The foundation currently operates in Sri Lanka, India, Sudan, Tanzania, Romania, Pakistan and the Philippines. Its work is focused on creating sustainable and self-sufficient communities. The Foundation recently built 150 houses for the underprivileged in Vavuniya and has provided educational support by way of scholarships to children in the northern region.