One Galle Face celebrates completion of One Galle Face Tower structure

The prestigious internationally developed and managed mixed-use development project by the Shangri-La Group, One Galle Face, continued its scheduled progress with the topping out ceremony of One Galle Face Tower held yesterday.

The exclusive One Galle Face Tower, which is nearing completion, is scheduled to begin operations during the second quarter of 2019.

As the One Galle Face Tower nears completion, the prime and upscale workspace is available for rent and prospective tenants are now able to view the prototype of the office suite. With the signing of maiden tenancy agreements with ZTE Lanka Ltd. and Softlogic Life Insurance Plc, the One Galle Face Tower is expected to be Colombo’s most sought after and premier business hub.

“It brings us infinite pleasure to reach this point, where we are able to unveil the prototype of office suites at the One Galle Face Tower. We have been working tirelessly to ensure that all needs will be met, and that the One Galle Face Tower will provide the necessary facilities to uplift and redefine business, corporate and lifestyle spaces in Colombo. In keeping with international protocols, we are dedicated to ensuring luxury, convenience and a seamless work experience to our tenants,” said Shangri-La Hotels Lanka Ltd. General Manager Callie Yah.

Facebook partners ICTA to empower SMEs in Sri Lanka with digital toolkit

Continuing with its recently-announced partnership with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka to train local entrepreneurs in digital marketing skills, Facebook is bringing its globally renowned ‘Boost Your Business’ workshop to the Southern region of Sri Lanka. ‘Boost Your Business’ is part of ICTA’s ‘Digitising of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka’ program, with Matara hosting the inaugural workshop for the region.

The event took place in Matara on 19 June and was organised with the support of regional level stakeholders, led by World University Service of Canada (WUSC). The ‘Boost Your Business’ workshop was attended by more than 200 local entrepreneurs, which included the participation of 60+ female entrepreneurs and 15 differently-abled business owners from Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts, on the effective use of digital tools to grow and monetise their businesses online. The sessions further helped enterprises understand the advantages of digital media, and guided them on how digital marketing tools can help leverage the mobile economy to gain market access and grow their businesses. The workshop, conducted in Sinhalese, also saw the presence of nearly 40 students from local vocational training schools.

Facebook staff to learn Sinhala insults after Sri Lanka riots

AFP: Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the country’s local languages.

The social network has been seeking penance in Sri Lanka after authorities blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead and reduced hundreds of mosques, homes and businesses to ashes.

Until the week-long ban, appeals to Facebook to act against the contagion of hate speech had been met with deafening silence, at a time when the California-based tech giant was reeling from unprecedented global scrutiny over fake news and user privacy.

“We did make mistakes and we were slow,” Facebook spokeswoman Amrit Ahuja told AFP in Colombo.

The dearth of staff fluent in Sinhala – the language spoken by Sri Lanka’s largest ethnic group – compounded the issue, with government officials and activists saying the oversight allowed extremist content to flourish undetected on the platform.

Ahuja said Facebook was committed to hiring more Sinhala speakers but declined to say how many were currently employed in Sri Lanka.

“This is the problem we are trying to address with Facebook. They need more Sinhala resources,” said the island’s telecommunications minister Harin Fernando.

Since the violence broke out in March, two high-level delegations from the company have visited Sri Lanka, where ethnic divisions linger after decades of war, to assure the Government of its intent.

Ahuja said Facebook was working with civil society organisations to familiarise its staff with Sinhala slurs and racist epithets.

Complex local nuances have added to the challenge. The word for “brother” in Tamil – also an official language in the country – can be a derogatory term in Sinhala when a slight inflection is used.

Desperate measures

Fernando said the decision to impose an island-wide blackout on Facebook – used by one in three Sri Lankans – was taken as a last resort to prevent an escalation of violence.

Buddhist monks freely shared images of masked men attacking mosques and urged others to do the same in the weeks before the riots erupted in Kandy.

Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread.

A meme in Sinhala, which remained online for weeks, urged death to all Muslims, including children. A man who reported it to Facebook was told it did not violate “specific community standards”.

In addition to government warnings, Fernando told AFP that Facebook users lodged thousands of complaints over extremist content, but were met with silence.

“It was not something that I liked doing. But if we didn’t block Facebook, the violence would have spread out of control,” he said.

Fitch revises Sampath’s Outlook to Stable; affirms ‘A+’

Fitch Ratings said yesterday it has affirmed the National Long-Term Rating of Sampath Bank PLC at ‘A+ (lka)’ and revised the Outlook to Stable from Negative. Fitch has also affirmed Sampath’s subordinated debentures at ‘A (lka)’.




The revision in the Outlook reflects Fitch’s expectation that the bank would be able to sustain higher capital buffers, as it continues to focus on capital management and earnings retention while expanding its market share. Sampath’s rating also reflects its higher risk appetite, growing franchise and satisfactory asset quality.




Fitch expects the bank to maintain adequate buffers above regulatory requirements, even though its Tier 1 ratio could temporarily fall to around 11% by end-2018 due to continued rapid growth. This compares to a minimum required Tier 1 ratio of 10%, which includes an additional end-point 1.5% buffer for domestic systemically important banks (D-SIB) from 1 January 2019. Sampath is now required to maintain minimum Tier 1 ratio of 8.875%, which includes a 1% D-SIB buffer. Fitch estimates Sampath’s Tier 1 ratio was 12% in April 2018, after it raised Rs. 12.5 billion in April 2018 and Rs. 7.6 billion in December 2017 via rights issuances, and retained its 2017 profit of Rs. 12.7 billion through a scrip dividend.




The bank’s total capital ratio improved to 14.3% by end-March 2018 (2016: 12.9%), after issuing Rs. 13.5 billion of Basel III-compliant subordinated debt over the last 12 months. The bank is required to maintain a minimum total capital ratio of 14% from the start of 2019, compared with the current requirement of 12.875%.




Loan growth is projected to remain strong in 2018, after a 7.5% expansion in 1Q18 since December 2017 that outpaced the sector’s 4.6% growth. Sampath’s high risk appetite is evident in its loan book’s CAGR of 22% over 2016-2017, exceeding the industry’s 16.8% expansion, and the loan book’s concentration in the consumer, retail and SME/mid-sized corporate segments. Fitch believes management may slow loan growth to maintain capital buffers in the absence of further capital infusion.




In line with rising non-performing loans (NPLs) in Sri Lanka, Sampath’s NPL ratio increased to 1.95% by end-1Q18 from 1.64% at end-2017, but the ratio remains low compared with those of its peers. The bank’s rapid growth and increased exposure to more-vulnerable segments raises the risk of asset-quality deterioration in the event of a significant economic downturn, although this is not the base case. Fitch expects the overall operating environment to remain challenging.




Total allowances rose to 10.5% of pre-provision profit in 2017 from 8.7% in 2016. Fitch believes impairment charges could rise further, due to potential asset-quality pressures, as well as the implementation of SLFRS 9. Sampath’s ROAA improved to 1.7% in 2017 from 1.6% in 2016 and 1.4% in 2015, aided by higher business volumes.




Subordinated debt




Fitch rates the Tier 2 instrument one notch below the bank’s National Long-Term Rating to reflect the notes’ subordinated status and higher loss-severity risks, relative to senior unsecured instruments. The National Long-Term Rating is used as the anchor rating, because the rating reflects the bank’s standalone credit profile, which best indicates the risk of becoming non-viable.




Rating sensitivities




Failure to sustain the planned capital buffers as a result of insufficient capital generation, rapid loan growth or a sharp decline in asset quality could lead to a rating downgrade.




Sampath’s ratings might be upgraded if its capitalisation were to significantly strengthen alongside a moderation in risk appetite, while managing asset-quality pressures.




Subordinated debt




The rating of the notes would move in tandem with Sampath’s National Long-Term Rating.

Source FT.lk