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Sept 04, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Sampath Bank is planning a branch in Myanmar and is expecting 20 percent credit growth this year despite tighter economic conditions, a top official said.
"Our intention is to have a presence overseas," managing director Aravinda Perera said.
"We are looking at Myanmar."
The bank already has a stake in a financial firm Bangladesh, which it helped set up, though a part of its stake has been sold down.
Sampath, which started in 1986 and has grown to be the third largest private lender in the country, is also selectively also selectively eyeing cross-border lending.
"We are also ready to lend overseas," Perera says. "We have certain facilities approved for people to set up power projects in Bangladesh. But we still believe that there is enough scope in this country."
The bank grew its loan 23 percent in 2012 and over 30 percent in 2011.
This year the Sampath is expecting 20 percent credit growth, despite tighter economic conditions.
"For an aggressive player there is still room for expansion," Perera says. "If you take the first six months, if you look at loan growth in absolute terms we probably had the highest credit growth among the private banks."
In the first six months Sampath's loan book grew 11 percent. By June 2013 it had 341 billion rupees in assets and a 231 billion rupee loan book.
Sampath has just won an award from Euromoney, an international financial magazine, for being the best bank in Sri Lanka. Previously it had also won awards from UK-based, The Banker magazine.
Perera says Euromoney subjected the bank to a broad evaluation before giving the award.
"They also look at what rating agencies say," he said. "And they have independent evaluation agents, who are totally independent and we do not who they are. They are supposed to evaluate applicants and report back."
"They look at financial stability, profitability, growth and quality of advances, network growth, and new products we have come up with and also the potential for the future."
In the June quarter bank's profits dipped partly due to making provisions for losses in gold-backed loans. The bank has said that it made provisions under new accounting rules, for loans that it expected to go bad in its judgment, even before the actual event.
Sampath has been one of the most aggressive lenders in the gold-backed sector in the past, until falling gold prices soured the sector.
Perera says even with the pawning loans, overall non performing loans are better than the industry.
"If you look at the credit quality, we still have one of the best credit quality ratios in the country," he says. "If you leave out pawning it is a about 2.0 percent, pawning is probably 1.0 percent. Industry is about 4.7 percent."
The bank was also working on ways to reduce risks on its pawning portfolio, Perera said.
This year's loan growth is to be driven by small and medium enterprises, which has always been a key area for the bank with the breaks being put on pawning.
About 40 percent of its loans book is estimated to be in SME's already.
"With 211 branches my major initiatives are on SMEs and branch level credit expansion," Perera said.
"There is still room for credit growth in the provinces.
"The reason why we have doubled the branch network is to go to the provinces. So SME's in the provinces are going to be very important for us."
Sampath has also lent money in its Investment Fund Account, a fund where proceeds of a tax reduction was directed by the state, to long term funding for SMEs.
Sri Lanka's economy has slowed, as the country recovers from a balance of payments crisis. It is usual for non performing loans to tick up during such times.
"Some (SMEs) are complaining of slowing down of transactions," Perera says. "But so far we have not seen huge major problems in liquidity so far."
Perera says the face of banking is changing. Larger corporates in particular are moving into debt and capital markets, which the state is also encouraging, while SME's will require funding.
Technology is also driving change. The bank started in 1986 with the most advanced computerized system at the time for a Sri Lankan bank and automated teller machines.
"In to a 5 to 10 year time horizon, the way that banking is done today is going to be changed," observes Perera.
"For example instruments like cheques are going to be disappearing from the scene. We have started initiatives on other parallel payment schemes, like mobile based payments schemes."
But conditions also change in the short term he said, and the bank had to be ready to adjust its plans and deal with challenges as has happened in the case of gold backed loans.
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lankas-sampath-bank-plans-myanmar-branch,-strong-credit-growth/459288551
"Our intention is to have a presence overseas," managing director Aravinda Perera said.
"We are looking at Myanmar."
The bank already has a stake in a financial firm Bangladesh, which it helped set up, though a part of its stake has been sold down.
Sampath, which started in 1986 and has grown to be the third largest private lender in the country, is also selectively also selectively eyeing cross-border lending.
"We are also ready to lend overseas," Perera says. "We have certain facilities approved for people to set up power projects in Bangladesh. But we still believe that there is enough scope in this country."
The bank grew its loan 23 percent in 2012 and over 30 percent in 2011.
This year the Sampath is expecting 20 percent credit growth, despite tighter economic conditions.
"For an aggressive player there is still room for expansion," Perera says. "If you take the first six months, if you look at loan growth in absolute terms we probably had the highest credit growth among the private banks."
In the first six months Sampath's loan book grew 11 percent. By June 2013 it had 341 billion rupees in assets and a 231 billion rupee loan book.
Sampath has just won an award from Euromoney, an international financial magazine, for being the best bank in Sri Lanka. Previously it had also won awards from UK-based, The Banker magazine.
Perera says Euromoney subjected the bank to a broad evaluation before giving the award.
"They also look at what rating agencies say," he said. "And they have independent evaluation agents, who are totally independent and we do not who they are. They are supposed to evaluate applicants and report back."
"They look at financial stability, profitability, growth and quality of advances, network growth, and new products we have come up with and also the potential for the future."
In the June quarter bank's profits dipped partly due to making provisions for losses in gold-backed loans. The bank has said that it made provisions under new accounting rules, for loans that it expected to go bad in its judgment, even before the actual event.
Sampath has been one of the most aggressive lenders in the gold-backed sector in the past, until falling gold prices soured the sector.
Perera says even with the pawning loans, overall non performing loans are better than the industry.
"If you look at the credit quality, we still have one of the best credit quality ratios in the country," he says. "If you leave out pawning it is a about 2.0 percent, pawning is probably 1.0 percent. Industry is about 4.7 percent."
The bank was also working on ways to reduce risks on its pawning portfolio, Perera said.
This year's loan growth is to be driven by small and medium enterprises, which has always been a key area for the bank with the breaks being put on pawning.
About 40 percent of its loans book is estimated to be in SME's already.
"With 211 branches my major initiatives are on SMEs and branch level credit expansion," Perera said.
"There is still room for credit growth in the provinces.
"The reason why we have doubled the branch network is to go to the provinces. So SME's in the provinces are going to be very important for us."
Sampath has also lent money in its Investment Fund Account, a fund where proceeds of a tax reduction was directed by the state, to long term funding for SMEs.
Sri Lanka's economy has slowed, as the country recovers from a balance of payments crisis. It is usual for non performing loans to tick up during such times.
"Some (SMEs) are complaining of slowing down of transactions," Perera says. "But so far we have not seen huge major problems in liquidity so far."
Perera says the face of banking is changing. Larger corporates in particular are moving into debt and capital markets, which the state is also encouraging, while SME's will require funding.
Technology is also driving change. The bank started in 1986 with the most advanced computerized system at the time for a Sri Lankan bank and automated teller machines.
"In to a 5 to 10 year time horizon, the way that banking is done today is going to be changed," observes Perera.
"For example instruments like cheques are going to be disappearing from the scene. We have started initiatives on other parallel payment schemes, like mobile based payments schemes."
But conditions also change in the short term he said, and the bank had to be ready to adjust its plans and deal with challenges as has happened in the case of gold backed loans.
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lankas-sampath-bank-plans-myanmar-branch,-strong-credit-growth/459288551
