Lankan bank branch density on the rise
Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI
There will be 1,804 more banking branches in the country by 2015,
increasing the branch density from 23.5 in 2010 to 30.5 by 2015,
according to a survey report launched by Jones Lang LaSalle at Cinnamon
Lakeside Hotel on Tuesday.
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Chairperson, Gagan Singh and CEO, Anuj
Puri launching the report. Picture by Sumanachandra
Ariyawansa |
Assuming a conservative average area of bank branches to be 2,500 sq
ft these would directly lead to demand for at least 4.5 million sq ft of
office space across cities in Sri Lanka during 2011-2015, the report
said.
Making a presentation on the report, Jones Lang LaSalle, Chairperson,
Sri Lanka Operation, Gagan Singh said the future demand for commercial
office space in Colombo will be closely correlated with the industries
that have the prospects of maximum growth.
While growth in the textiles and apparel industry would result in
demand for retail and industrial space, growth in finance insurance and
information and communication technology sectors would lead directly to
demand generation for quality office space.
She said the growth of the hotels and restaurants sector would result
in the development of hospitality real estate. Transport, storage and
communications, rubber and plastic products, furniture, the wholesale
and retail trade and others would lead to demand for retail as well as
industrial space.
Elaborating the growth prospects in the finance, insurance,
information and communication technology sectors and its impact on the
demand for office space in Colombo she said there were 22 banks
operating in the Colombo Metropolitan Region with over 632 branches and
897 banking outlets. The majority of office space occupied by this
sector is in self-owned or single tenanted office properties across all
major locations in the city.
The Bank of Ceylon and the Peoples Bank are two state owned banks
having a large network and several private banking firms such as Hatton
National Bank, Seylan Bank, DFCC, Commercial Bank, and Sampath Bank also
have an established presence in the banking and financial services
sector. There are 11 foreign banks that are operational in Sri Lanka
including HSBC, Standard Chartered and CitiBank.
Meanwhile, the number of banking branches in Sri Lanka has been
increasing at an average rate of 7 percent per annum since 2007. Today,
thebank branch density is increasing at the rate of 100,000 persons per
bank branch as per the report.
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