Asia Securities launches financial sector investment conference series

Sri Lanka’s top equity brokerage firm Asia Securities recently held its inaugural financial sector investment conference titled “Shifting Gears: But Which Way?” in Colombo.

The Asia Securities Financial Sector Investor Conference marked the 7th event under the “Wealth Insights” series of investor events which is now in its third year. This conference which generated value-added insights for the capital markets community in Sri Lanka featured Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank as the keynote speaker.

One of the key themes at the event was low capitalization constraining the growth potential of state banks and the urgent need for state banks to raise external capital in order to remain competitive with private banks, the company said in a media release.

Commenting on the successful conclusion of the event, the Chairman of Asia Securities Dumith Fernando said: “We are pleased with the industry response to our inaugural financial sector investor conference. As one of the leading equity brokerage firms in the country, we feel it is our responsibility to be thought leaders for Sri Lanka’s capital markets community.”

During the event, Asia Securities’ Banking Sector Analyst and Head of Research, Kanishka Perera, noted that the improved macroeconomic conditions have created a conducive environment for the banking sector to deliver strong growth, but also pointed out challenges such as the implementation of IFRS 9 and the proposed transaction levy.

Several panel discussions were held at the conference. The first panel discussion titled “Looking ahead to 2018: Challenges and Opportunities for Banks” saw Dr. Coomaraswamy; Jonathan Alles, CEO/MD – Hatton National Bank; Krishan Balendra, Chairman – Nations Trust Bank and Ganaka Herath, Partner – Financial Institutions, at McKinsey & Co engaging in a vibrant discussion on the topic. A key message which came out of the panel discussion was that the macro environment is improving but state banks would need to raise at least Rs. 50 billion in order to stay in business with the higher capital requirements and double that in order to deliver meaningful growth.