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Lanka has 85,000 "good" borrowers
Plans underway to collect all data on credit, loans
Sri Lanka's Credit Information Bureau, which collects data on credit and borrowings, has 85,000 good borrowers on its books and another 55,000 defaulters who have outstanding debts with state and private lending institutions.

The list of good borrowers and debtors are usually high net worth individuals who have taken loans of Rs. 100,000 and over, bureau officials said. The bureau, the only agency in Sri Lanka which collects such data for the benefit of banks and even depositors or borrowers, now plans to expand its data base to cover all categories of loans - big or small, said N.P.H. Amaraweera, the bureau's Director/General Manager. It currently has data only on loans of over Rs. 100,000
"We are planning to collect data on any loan so that we can capture the complete credit situation in the country," he said in an interview.

The bureau is hiring a consultant to advise it on upgrading the technology and increasing the data base to include more borrowers in the country. According to preliminary reports, it is estimated that in 2006 there would be 1.8 million loans of Rs. 50,000 and over.

The bureau was set up in 1990 by an Act of Parliament to protect lending institutions from defaulters with 50 percent capital held by the Central Bank and the balance shared by commercial and specialised banks, finance and leasing companies.

It is governed by a board currently chaired by S. Nagahawatte, deputy governor of the Central Bank while its directors come from the Central Bank, Bank of Ceylon, People's Bank, National Merscantile Bank, DFCC Bank and Alliance Finance Co.
Amaraweera denied reports that the bureau had a blacklist of defaulters. "We don't maintain any such list. We collect information on borrowings of institutions and individuals. The data is not analysed."

Lending institutions are obliged by law to provide credit information to the bureau which collects information on a monthly and quarterly basis. "We have updated information on new loans, old loans or bad loans. When an application for credit is made to a lending institution, the bank or member institution requests a report from us to check the creditworthiness of the client.

That report reflects the total exposure as to whether the client is a good or bad borrower," he said, explaining that the bureau provides the figures without making any judgement or comment.

More than 27,000 requests were processed according to latest figures in August.
The bureau has more than 200,000 names on the data base of borrowers.
Amaraweera says they also receive some requests to monitor the performance of loans. He said individuals too could make a request through a bank for information on their bank loan. Such requests must be routed through a bank.

"This facility is available to the public. For instance you can check whether your loan in another bank is up to date. Very few customers have made use of this facility probably because they are unaware of its existence."

The bureau chief said he was also undertaking a survey - based on the latest census - to find out how many people in Sri Lanka own houses, have televisions, telephones or credit cards.

"Such information is useful for a credit economy just like in the US which has 98 million credit cards. A credit economy improves the standard of living," he said.

Laws against computer hackers, e-mail abuse
A new law to fight computer crime is to be presented to parliament shortly clearly identifying offences such as hacking and e-mail abuse and making provisions to investigate and punish offenders.

The draft Computer Crimes Bill is in response to the growing number of computer-related crimes taking place in the island, officials said. Existing laws are inadequate to tackle such crimes, legal experts said.

Many of these crimes are committed in banks by employees with access to computer systems, while others involve credit card fraud and falsification of computerised bills and receipts.

The new law makes it an offence for anyone to even try to gain unauthorised access to a computer and buy or sell information obtained in such a manner. It also makes it an offence to reveal confidential information that would enable an intruder to gain access to computer programmes such as e-mail services.

Under the proposed law, the police chief is responsible for investigations but it provides for the appointment of a team of computer experts to help the police given the advanced technical knowledge required in such probes.

These experts are to be appointed by the Inspector General of Police in consultation with the Computer and Information Technology Council. The new law has provision to extend the scope of the Extradition Law to include computer crimes and allow the extradition of a foreign national from Sri Lanka to a Commonwealth country or to another country with which Sri Lanka has an extradition treaty. (See also related story)

Jagath quits John Keells
John Keells Holdings (JKH), Sri Lanka's biggest conglomerate, is unlikely to appoint a deputy chairman - at least for now - after its incumbent director Jagath Fernando made a quiet exit from the company about two weeks back.

The move was surprising since Fernando had in an August 27 letter to the board of directors said he was taking early retirement only from August 2003 - a year later - for personal reasons.

But Fernando last week confirmed he has left the company as its last deputy chairman, after a 30-year stint. "Yes … he has left the company," said JKH chairman Vivendra Lintotawela, adding that the group had no immediate plans to appoint a new deputy chairman.

The most senior working directors apart from Lintotawela are Susantha Ratnayake and Ajit Gunawardene. Sri Lanka's corporate world was stunned by the news in late August of Fernando's plans to take early retirement. Lintotawela, at that time, rejected speculation that the deputy chairman's move was linked to a boardroom battle.

Chandrika skips econ summit in Kuala Lumpur
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga is not attending an economic summit in Malaysia in which heads of state and government are among those taking part, officials said.

"The president earlier planned to attend the meeting but has had to decline the invitation due to official commitments here," said presidential spokesman Harim Peiris.

Some 800 participants are expected in Kuala Lumpur for the 11th East Asia Economic Summit being held on October 6-7. Delegates include presidents and prime ministers of various countries, investors, politicians, social workers and business groups.

Among leaders attending are Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Thailand's Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra.

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