Cargills ventures into banking

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

The Central Bank yesterday granted provisional approval for Cargills Ceylon Ltd to set up a Commercial Bank according to CB regulations.

The provisional approval means that they will have to invest the minimum amount (Rs 3 billion) required for a Commercial Bank and the provision allowed has been for nine months which also means that the approval becomes null and void if the new bank is not set up within nine months, Central Bank Senior Deputy Governor Dharma Dheerasinghe told Daily News Business yesterday.

He said the application which has been presented by Cargills has said the required funds will be met by Cargills, a Mauritius based investor and the International Finance Corporation, which is the private sector lending arm of the World Bank.

This would mean that the license would also enable Cargills to provide a wide array of banking services including soliciting deposits, lending and function as a fully fledged bank with a wide array of portfolio of services.

Market sources said this will also be an additional benefit for the wide network of suppliers and farmers who operate within the Food City network as well.