Commercial Bank forging ahead on ties with Chinese banks
View(s):The Commercial Bank (CB) is in discussion with two Chinese banks in a bid to set up ties, a top official said. With one bank Commercial has set up the SWIFT keys, a set of authentication mechanisms to start the process in transacting with them, Jegan Durairatnam, CEO Commercial Bank told the Business Times. This follows a high level delegation to China in which CB participated two months ago. Top officials of some six banks – Bank of Ceylon, Peoples’ Bank, Commercial Bank, HNB and Seylan had accompanied Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran on this delegation and held one-to-one high-level discussions in mid February.
The team met with China Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and China Communications Bank among others. Mr. Mahendran has said that he had met with Governor of Peoples’ Bank of China, which is the central bank of the People’s Republic of China. “He said our local banks can borrow in renminbi (the legal tender in mainland China markets) as much as we want.” Mr. Durairatnam added that with a second Chinese counterpart, Commercial is discussing rates condition for borrowings. “The Chinese are interest in related borrowings in renminbi (the legal tender in mainland China).”