Commercial Banks keen on buying Seylan
Hiran H. Senewiratne
Several leading commercial banks and financial entities are
interested in buying Seylan Bank and its management, market sources
said. Currently, the Bank is under the Bank of Ceylon management.
According to money market sources several banks and financial
entities including Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank (HNB), NDB
Bank, Sampath Bank, ICICI Bank, LOLC Group, Nation’s Trust Bank and
several other banks are interested in the bank.
However, HNB Managing Director N Theagarajah said, “In the event of
divesting Seylan Bank we have to do an evaluation on the entity to find
out the viability of the bank.”
At one time HNB was looking forward to a joint venture with another
commercial bank in the country. Commercial Bank Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) Nandika Buddhipala said that they have not done a real detailed
study on the entity to buy the bank.
However, incumbent Chairman, Seylan Bank Esmond Narangoda told the
Daily News Business, that Seylan Bank is now functioning well.
Now slowly but steadily the confidence of the Bank in the public is
building. Further, the Bank is hoping to offer attractive interest rates
and other benefits to its depositors, as the bank is now resilient for
any situation, he said.
Narangoda said that he is unaware of the move, but the bank is now
functioning well, as depositors are not withdrawing any deposits from
the bank from the day it was taken over by the Bank of Ceylon.
It is believed that this issue surfaced when Seylan Bank PLC stakes
were to be diverted to settle the Golden Key Credit Card Company
depositors. Therefore, it was taken over to establish the country’s
banking stability. The Central Bank Monetary Board dissolved the Seylan
Bank director board and transferred the management to the Bank of
Ceylon.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that they do not have
any immediate plans to make any changes for Seylan Bank and its
management. It is now building the confidence of the public under the
new management.
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