Sri Lanka Newspapers Wednesday 25/04/2012

First Capital appoints new independent director

Top accounting professional Nishan Fernando, a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA) has been appointed to the Board of First Capital Holdings PLC as a non-executive independent director.

An announcement to the Colombo Stock Exchange by the financial solutions company said the appointment of Fernando, who counts more than 23 years of involvement in the field of accountancy, was effective 18th April 2012.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) of UK and holder of an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Fernando is the Head of Upstream Finance Operations at Goodhope (Carsons Group).

"The appointment of Nishan Fernando adds further depth to the Board of First Capital, as the company gears for growth," said Lalith de Mel, the Group’s Chairman. "The experience he has gained from holding senior positions in several eminent professional bodies and his work in the corporate sector will be germane to our planned progression."

In the course of an illustrious career, Mr. Fernando has served as Group Chief Financial Officer of ODEL PLC, as Chief Financial Officer at Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, and as Group Financial Controller of the Hemas Group.

He has officiated as Independent Director/Chairman Audit Committee of Browns Investments PLC, as President, Vice President and Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, as a Commission Member of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, as a member of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, and since 2009 has functioned as Chairman of the Statutory Accounting Standards Committee which promulgates the Accounting Standards in Sri Lanka.

Fernando has also gained valuable experience from past positions as a member of the International Accounting Education Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and as a member of the Board and is currently a Technical Advisor to the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) whose Centre of Excellence for Standards and Quality he chaired in 2006 – 2008.

Fernando is the fourth high profile professional to be appointed to the First Capital PLC Board in the past year, joining Deshamanya Lalith de Mel who was appointed Chairman in October 2011, senior Chartered Accountant Minette Perera and marketing guru Eardley Perera.

Consequent to this latest appointment, the full Board of Directors of First Capital Holdings PLC comprises of Deshamanya Lalith de Mel (Chairman), Nihara Rodrigo, Eardley Perera, Minette Perera, Manjula Mathews, Dinesh Schaffter and Nishan Fernando.

First Capital Holdings PLC is a financial solutions provider in Sri Lanka, with an extensive product offering ranging from investments in treasury bills and bonds to margin trading, wealth management and corporate debt.

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Both indices were down on the Colombo bourse yesterday in a dull day’s trading with only worthwhile activity seen in JKH and Commercial Bank with CIC and Overseas Realty also making some contribution to turnover, brokers said.

A turnover of Rs.288.6 million, up from the previous day’s Rs.246.9 million, was posted with the All Share Price Index down 13.28 points (0.26%) and the Milanka down 16.94 points (0.35%) with 50 gainers trailing 124 losers.

Brokers said that there were no crossings during the day.

``The indices co tinued to decline for a third consecutive day amid low activity levels dominnated by trades on banking and diversified stocks,’’ John Keells Stock Brokers said in a market report.

JKH, trading between Rs.205 and Rs.206.50, closed flat at Rs.206 with nearly 0.3 million shares changing hands generating the day’s top turnover of Rs.59.7 million.

Commercial Bank followed gaining 30 cents to close at Rs.105.30 on over 0.3 million shares traded between Rs.104.70 and Rs.105.30 contributing Rs.34.8 million to turnover.

CIC closed flat at Rs.100 with nearly 0.2 million shares traded between Rs.95 and Rs.100 generating Rs.16.9 million turnover while Overseas Realty gained 50 cents to close at Rs.14 on nearly 1.2 million shares done between Rs.13.80 and Rs.14.20 contributing Rs.16.2 million to the day’s business volume.

There was some activity in Sampath bank which closed 10 cents up at Rs.179.10 on 60,341 shares with Commercial Bank (non-voting) up 20 cents to close at Rs.85 on slightly over 0.1 million shares.

Access Engineering announced that its mandatory offer for Sathosa Motors had closed on April 20 with approximately 4.44% of Sathosa acquired by Access which already held 77.05% of the company.

Additionally, a small quantity of 0.05% (3,174 shares) had been acquired on the trading floor of the CSE during the offer period.

Nestle Lanka announced a final dividend of Rs.47.50 per share subject to shareholder approval at an AGM on June 1. The share will trade XD from June 5 with payment on June 12.

Analysts said this will be among the highest dividend paid by a quoted company. Nestle has already paid an interim dividend for 2011.

Mr. Rayynor Silva has resigned from the boards of the Citrus Leisure, Kalpitiya Beach Resorts and Waskaduwa Beach Resorts according to Stock Exchange filings with the respective companies.

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The rupee fell to its lowest against the dollar on thin importer demand in the absence of significant inflows, disregarding Central Bank and Treasury forecasts for importer demand to subside after the festive season stabilising the exchange rate at Rs. 125 levels.

The rupee reached an all time low against the greenback closing at Rs. 131.80/132.30 yesterday (24). The highest quote was for Rs. 132.40 during the day.

"Importer demand is driving the foreign exchange market, but volumes are thin. Importers are buying dollars speculating the rupee would depreciate further while exporters are not converting their holdings for the same reason," a currency dealer said.

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told The Island Financial Review last January that a ‘glut’ of foreign currency inflows was expected during the first quarter of this year, which would significantly appreciate the rupee.

The Central Bank has twice increased monetary policy rates since February in a bid to contain credit demand that was largely seen to be fuelling importer demand. A ceiling on commercial bank credit growth has also been introduced. The government has increased import duties on selected items and increased domestic fuel prices and revised electricity rate upwards. All this was done to contain an expanding current account deficit.

The Central Bank no longer defends the exchange rate.

It sold down reserves by more than US$ 3 billion since June 2011 to defend the rupee despite the growing trade deficit.

The International Monetary Fund says the recent policy measures would help Sri Lanka build its reserves and lay the foundation for more sustainable growth.

Inflation and pubic debt management will come under pressure as a result of the falling rupee, the Asian Development Bank has said.

If the current account deficit cannot be contained, as seen by April data, authorities are ready to take more policy action, Central Bank and Treasury officials have said.

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Reuters: Crime generates an estimated $ 2.1 trillion in global annual proceeds – or 3.6 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product – and the problem may be growing, a senior United Nations official said on Monday.

“It makes the criminal business one of the largest economies in the world, one of the top 20 economies,” said Yury Fedotov, Head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), describing it as a threat to security and economic development.The figure was calculated recently for the first time by the UNODC and World Bank, based on data for 2009, and no comparisons are yet available, Fedotov told a news conference.

Speaking on the opening day of a week-long meeting of the international Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), he suggested the situation may be worsening “but to corroborate this feeling I need more data”.

He said up to $ 40 billion is lost through corruption in developing countries annually and illicit income from human trafficking amounts to $ 32 billion every year.

“According to some estimates, at any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of human trafficking, a shameful crime of modern day slavery,” Fedotov said separately in a speech.

He also cited a range of other crimes yielding big money.

Organised crime, illicit trafficking, violence and corruption are “major impediments” to the Millennium Development Goals, a group of targets set by the international community in 2000 to seek to improve health and reduce poverty among the world’s poorest people by 2015, Fedotov said.

Criminal groups have shown “impressive adaptability” to law enforcement actions and to new profit opportunities, a senior US official told the meeting in Vienna.

“Today, most criminal organisations bear no resemblance to the hierarchical organised crime family groups of the past,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Brian Nichols said, according to a copy of his speech.

“Instead, they consist of loose and informal networks that often converge when it is convenient and engage in a diverse array of criminal activities,” Nichols, of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, added.

He said terrorist groups in some cases were turning to crime to help fund their operations: “There are even instances where terrorists are evolving into criminal entrepreneurs in their own right.”
http://www.ft.lk/2012/04/25/crime-one-of-the-worlds-top-20-economies-un/