New Solomon Islands bank brings in Sri Lankan expertise, country PM says
A new Solomon Islands bank will open in March 2014 with expertise from a Sri Lankan-based consultancy consortium engaged in developing different business models.
This was disclosed by Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Gordon Darcy Lilo when he addressed a gathering of professionals including bankers, lawyers, engineers and chairmen of corporations at a reception hosted by Global Management Consultants (GMC) in Colombo on Sunday, November 17.
All arrangements have been made to open a domestically incorporated financial institution in March 2014 with management consultancy assistance from Global Management Consultants (GMC), a reputed Sri Lankan firm, he revealed.
The standard of financial discipline and achievements of Sri Lankan financial institutions and the common challenges experienced by both countries were some of the influencing factors in pursuing this particular initiative, he said.
The Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) announced that it has granted an interim banking license to Pan Oceanic Bank Ltd (POB) and required systems and the establishing of the process necessary for the launching of the bank was being carried out by GMC.
With the target date set, the consultancy team of GMC in Colombo Sri Lanka is working tirelessly to procure all required systems and establish the processes that are required to make a good start.
DFCC Bank of Sri Lanka will also provide its expertise to Solomon Islands by arranging to establish POB which will be supported by the DFCC bank facilitating the establishment of correspondent banking relationship through its subsidiary Synapsis Ltd.
The DFCC is facilitating the sale of Software Licensing for an ICT Platform for the bank.
Prime Minister Darcy Lilo noted that the recent establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Solomon Islands would give the country an opportunity to further cooperate in the political, socio-economic and cultural fields.
He also expressed Solomon Island’s interest in following the Sri Lankan model towards development and capitalizing on this new beginning of diplomatic relations.
He said that he is highly impressed with Sri Lanka’s development after ending the war and he looked forward to share those experiences with his country.
Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia and concurrently accredited to New Zealand and Pacific noted that the two countries have similar goals as developing countries, both internationally and locally.
He added that Sri Lanka having reached middle income status would be ready to share its experiences with Solomon Islands.
This Sri Lankan based consultancy consortium has taken up the challenge of providing consultancy in the setting up of 4th commercial Bank in Solomon Islands to elevate the Solomon Islands national development goals set by the (visiting) Prime Minister,GMC officials said.
This will help to develop, infrastructure, services, skills and capabilities to take Solomon Islands to be economically prominent in the Pacific region whilst providing Solomon Islands, its first own commercial bank.