CSE to address global fund managers regularly

Singapore event highly successful:

Channa KASTURISINGHE

STOCK MARKET: Buoyed by the successful fund managers conference held in Singapore last week the Colombo Stock Exchange is planning to hold more such events globally showcasing the potential of the Colombo stock market in a bid to attract foreign investments.

The participants at the conference told the Daily News that Singapore event was a good eye-opener for international fund managers based in Singapore and they were highly impressed by the performance of the leading listed companies in Sri Lanka.

Some participants said that representatives of leading fund manager companies congratulated Sri Lankan companies on their excellent performance. Four of the top listed companies in terms of market capitalization were showcased at the forum.

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO Dialog Telekom, Ajit Gunewardena, Deputy Chairman John Keells Holdings,. Amitha Gooneratne, Managing Director Commercial Bank and Shuhei Anan, Chief Executive Sri Lanka Telecom made presentations and answered questions from interested Fund managers.

The Business Development Manager of Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers Angelo Ranasinghe told the Daily News that some assets and wealth management company representatives were highly taken up by the performance of Sri Lanka's top companies.

"I expect this event will have a very positive impact on our stock market in terms of foreign participation," Ranasinghe said.

Indika Rajakaruna of Asha Philips Securities said that the very effective company presentations were followed by useful question and answer sessions and the representatives of the fund management companies seemed to be very keen in investing in Colombo stock market.

The CSE also received wide exposure in the Singapore financial press which included live interviews telecast globally showcasing the Colombo market, a CSE statement said.

However, some participants expressed dissatisfaction over the attempt by some Sri Lankan media to belittle this very important event by trying to create a negative picture about the event.

"We were surprised and sad to find that some of our media had blown up out of all proportion a general question raised by a participant about Sri Lanka's regulations to curb money laundering," a CSE official said.

A top level delegation, led by the Chairman of the CSE Nihal Fonseka, included keynote speaker Ajit Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank, H.E Shehan Ratnavale, SL High Commissioner in Singapore and the Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka Mr. Gamini Wickremasinghe, the CEO of the CSE Surekha Sellahewa and SEC Director General Channa de Silva.

A thirty strong stockbroker delegation including several Chief Executives of local brokerage houses and a representative from a foreign bank providing custodian services locally were also in Singapore last week in support of this initiative.

The investment forum which was held on 22nd November, was organized in association with the Sri Lanka High Commission in Singapore.