Bankers, through the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (SLBA), are offering counselling to borrowers ‘in distress’ over loan repayments.
The social initiative in the form of a Credit Counselling Centre will begin on January 19 with the centre located at the Central Bank’s Centre for Banking Studies in Rajagiriya. This service will be extended to the provincial towns later.
“Borrowers who are facing difficulty with their payments will have a team of specially trained advisors with skill, understanding and knowledge in banking and finance to help them manage their funds and repayments and get back on track. Their services will be made available free of charge,” the Association said in a statement.
SLBA Secretary General Upali de Silva said the need for credit counselling is being strongly felt in this country and financial management is relevant to both individuals who borrow and institutions that lend. The service will be beneficial to small and medium scale entrepreneurs as well as individuals who have obtained personal loans or credit card facilities without much thought of the practical aspects of paying back.
The Centre called ‘Upadeshana’ will help defaulters to review their financial situation and come up with a viable solution to meet their obligations. What they will not do however is to get loans negated or waived, the statement said. Nor will the Counselling Service make recommendations of various credit schemes on offer. The service is primarily to get the borrower to re-look at his or her resources and re-channel them in a way that would get the payments and business back on track.
“The service comes at a time where there is global concern about credit and financial stability” said Ms. Siromi Wickramasinghe who will head the Upadeshana Centre. “The SLBA has the support of the Central Bank as a part of an endeavour to strengthen Sri Lanka’s financial services sector.”
Several countries operate credit counselling services to keep defaulting in loan repayments to a minimum. While Sri Lanka is ahead in banking compared to other Asian countries, till now there has been little help to minimize the defaulting of loan repayments or the misuse of credit card facilities. |
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