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.
