PRESS RELEASE
Originally covered in Ceylon Today
The fourth installment in a series of online events centering on the Sri Lankan economy in light of Covid-19 explored the way forward for Sri Lanka’s banking and financial sector.
The discussion was moderated by Murtaza Jafferjee (CEO, JB Securities and Chairperson, Advocata), and the panelists were Yvette Fernando (Assistant Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka), Manil Jayesinghe (Senior Partner, Ernst & Young), Roshan Abeygoonewardena (Chairman, The Finance Houses Association- Sri Lanka) and Jonathan Alles (Managing Director/ CEO, Hatton National Bank).
Yvette Fernando, (Assistant Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka) emphasised that banking is vital for healthy economic development. The expectation of the government is that there will be a slack period and that public welfare will have to be provided at this juncture. By providing early debt relief, the hope is that things will get back to normal, and cash flow will start to come in.
Jonathan Alles (Managing Director/ CEO, Hatton National Bank) spoke on how the new norm will be to go digital in 2020. This switch to digital platforms should be something that is continued, even post-Covid. The panel also touched on some of the practical issues the sector is facing. As stated by Roshan Abeygoonewardena (Chairman, The Finance Houses Association- Sri Lanka), about 66% of their branches are located outside the western province. During curfew and non curfew period, all out-station branches were opened for about 2-3 hours during the 6-hour lift of curfew, in order to provide banking services to customers.
Manil Jayesinghe (Senior Partner, Ernst & Young) touched on the macro perspective, given that most major economies in the world will be facing a contraction, factors like accounting standards are of greater importance; they would reassure and attract investors in the country.