‘O cursed lust of gold\, to what canst thou not compel the heart of man!’ - Virgil Aenid (greed) This column dedicated to the notion of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia turns its spotlight today on the dreadful suffering of Sri Lankans due to the fraudulent activities of persons masquerading as great philanthropists thereby building public ...

From early in-house management training to training in world class management schools that professionals, business leaders, academics and civil society leaders have undergone, they have learnt of the key management principle of engaging in quiet reflection, reality checks, risk mitigation assessments and the need to plan lessons learnt response action. These practices are considered essential ...

By Ian The President in his speech at the opening of the Southern Expressway said that this could be the beginning of building a modern society. He also mentioned that had there been such an expressway linking the north with the south the extremists would not have succeeded in capitalising on the mistrust among communities. ...

Professionals stressed the importance of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country to usher in much needed development and also to help in foreign debt servicing and to take away pressure on interest rates. Former Central Bank of Sri Lanka Director Statistics Dr. (Mrs.) Anila Dias Bandaranaike speaking at a CIMA sponsored budget seminar ...

ASPI in steepest fall since February; fears over Takeover nBill force dumping of blue chips; EPF the lone ranger Investor confidence is worsening by the day judging by the continued tumble in value of the Colombo bourse, as it suffered one of the sharpest declines yesterday. The market

By: R. M. B. Senanayake The stock market swings 50-100 points each way while the general trend is downwards. Many retail investors have lost money and are now fighting shy of investing in the market. In any case they were more speculators rather than investors. They were led up the garden path by high net worth ...

The UNP yesterday criticised the Board of Investment (BOI) for misleading investors by changing its web site's previous assurance that foreign investments will not be nationalised. An apparent development following the passing of Takeover Bill in parliament on Wednesday, in the BOI web site's section listing Supportive Government Policies, the new version only states "Safety ...

By: R. M. B. Senanayake The EPF has defended their investments in the stock market. But it has missed the point of the criticism leveled by the public.  No one is opposing the EPF investing in the stock market. But the EPF should not gamble with the workers money for they are trustees

The Central Bank yesterday issued a fresh statement defending the stock market investments made by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which has come under criticism from the Opposition and others. The statement said in an era where interest rates are likely to decline in the medium to long term

The Employees Provident Fund has defended its recent investment moves where it purchased shares of various listed firms through the Colombo Stock Exchange and also made investments in some unlisted firms. EPF says these investments are essential in an era where interest rates are likely to decline

Marque fund manager and investor Asanga Seneviratne structures deal; Galadari Brothers part sell stake as part of settlement of cases in UAEThe buying of a 16% stake in Galadari Hotel (Lanka) Plc by the Dubai Government for Rs. 1.18 billion yesterday is expected to throw open the city five star as an attractive investment in ...

Oct 30, Colombo: Labor Minister of Sri Lanka Gamini Lokuge says there is no problem in Employees Provident Fund (EPF) monies being invested in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated Inter Company Employees’ Union (ICEU) says that authorities were swindling monies of the working masses in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). ICEU Head Wasantha Samarasinghe says the decision to invest EPF monies in the Colombo Stock Exchange

Dr. Lalith P. Chandradasa, a doctor of medicine and a brother-in-law of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the pioneering development finance institution DFCC Bank. The appointment as an Independent Director had been approved by the DFCC Bank Board following the go ahead by the Director of Bank Supervision, ...

Commonwealth Games’ Bid The ethics of Government of Sri Lanka’s (GoSL’s) decision to request public banks to make a contribution to strengthen GoSL’s bid to hold the Commonwealth Games in Hambantota in 2018 are being questioned by certain quarters. One banker told this reporter that as banks are custodians of depositors’ funds, it’s not right ...

By Cheranka Mendis Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal yesterday declared that the country’s biggest fund, the EPF, was well managed and not corrupted, in remarks that signalled an apparent dismissal of allegations levelled by the main opposition UNP. Sri Lanka’s largest fund

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabral has said that they had no intention of vesting the Employees Provident in another party. He was speaking at the relocation of the EPF Department at a new venue. The Employees Provident Fund Department has been relocated in the Lloyds Building at Sir Baron

aUNP MP and the party’s Economic Spokesman Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday renewed his warning over the fate of EPF’s questionable investments in the stock market. In a statement, he urged that EPF must follow its own investment guidelines and code of professional conduct or else

By Harsha de Silva We understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs. 10 million and compound an ...

Public service is poised to get a shot in the arm making it  greatly people-friendly soon due  to a project initiated by   the ICT  Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) recently.   As one of the latest phases of the e-Services initiative  ‘the Lanka Gate e-Services Project’ of ICTA, aims at better public service by developing ...

Deputy Chairman Ashok Pathirage is keen to buy more shares of NDB Bank, if available at the right price. On Friday, Ashok, who is the Chairman of Softlogic Holdings, bought 470,000 shares at Rs. 135 each in a deal worth Rs. 63.4 million. This was after he picked up one million shares at the same ...

The biggest fund, the EPF, is estimated to have bought around 10 million shares of diversified Vallibel One Ltd. (VOL) yesterday for Rs. 300 million from high net worth investors. Slightly over 15 million shares of VOL traded yesterday for Rs. 451 million. Of the quantity, nearly 10 million shares

More To Exit following UN Report The stock market continued to lose its momentum as predicted in the lead story on these pages in its last week’s edition, compounded by foreigners fleeing the market, made worse by the UN’s negative war report on the island. “There is panic selling by foreigners in the backdrop of ...

Banks’ Profits Up 111% The banking industry achieved a considerably high level of profits in 2010. Profit after tax amounted to Rs. 57.5 billion last year, a 111% growth in comparison to a Rs. 27.2 billion profit in 2009. The significant growth in profitability was mainly attributed to a higher increase in fee-based income, a ...

No Investments With the market throwing up an excess liquidity of more than Rs. 120 billion day, day in day out, and signs being that investments have not picked up, are all favourable indicators for the prevalence of a low interest regime in the economy, a market source told this reporter. The market has no ...

Excess Liquidity, Small Forex Market Excess liquidity coupled with low volumes of foreign exchange traded have been continuing to bug markets here, which a source attributed as being are reflection of the low levels of economic activity taking place in the country. Despite a spike last Friday, the foreign exchange (forex) market has been averaging ...

The “drag down” of the bourse which began a couple of weeks ago will continue till the year end because of the holiday season that would lead to a further contraction in demand as a result. The “light at the end of the tunnel” may once more be seen if foreigners re-enter the market, a ...

President Rajapaksa as Minister of Finance presented the first budget in his second term as the Executive President, making proposals giving a major impetus to value addition of local industrial products, to improve export earnings while granting a wide range of concessions, increasing outsourcing facilities in Sri Lanka for foreign business enterprises. Thus the President, ...

Government institutions such as the State administered EPF are believed to have had entered the market on Thursday by buying into blue chips across the board, thereby helping to push up the All Share Price Index (ASPI) by 92.58 points (1.43%) to 6,565 and the more sensitive Milanka Price Index (MPI

By Chamitha Kuruppu Reputed Economist and UNP Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva, while talking about the crony capitalism in the country, warns that the situation is only going to get worse within the new set up, where economic...