Financial Times

Sri Lankan gives up monopoly on catering, ground handling
SriLankan Airlines will partially give up its monopoly on catering and ground handling, key profit centres for the carrier, under a new deal struck between the government and Emirates.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed recently, SriLankan Airlines' exclusive rights to do catering has been removed from July 31, said Cecil Amarasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Highways and Aviation.

"Any other caterer can come but this can't be done immediately as they would need to set up the infrastructure such as kitchens," he said. SriLankans' monopoly on ground handling has also been relaxed subject to certain conditions, he said.

Under the new agreement, from July 31 Sri Lankan will allow cargo handling other than on the ramp at the airport to be done by a third party and airlines to do 'self-handling' in the terminal building. However, this is subject to the condition that for the remainder of the 10-year period from April 1998, all other forms of ground handling will remain exclusively with SriLankan Airlines.

The Aviation Ministry has sought the advice of the Attorney General's Department on the interpretation of some of the provisions of the MoU. SriLankan Airlines has also agreed to allow another airline to be designated the second national carrier. But the prospective second carrier will not be able to operate to 13 destinations, mostly those used by SriLankan Airlines, as well as some in China and the Middle East.

However, the second carrier would be free to fly to these destinations if SriLankan Airlines does not operate to them for three years.

Singer's UNIC deal launched
Sri Lanka's biggest audio brand in the 70s and early 80s, UNIC made a strategic move recently signing an agreement with Singer Sri Lanka to market, distribute and service UNIC products, both in the audio and video range.

Singer Sri Lanka's Chairman, Hemaka Amarasuriya said the strategic agreement was mooted by the fact that the UNIC brand is synonymous with audio products in Sri Lanka. "It is an extremely popular brand among the Sri Lankan public, especially in the outstations and it makes sense that with Singer's strong and wide distribution network, UNIC makes its product available to an even bigger customer base."

Upali Group Managing Director, Nimal Welgama noted that Singer is in a position to revive the UNIC brand, utilizing its expertise in retailing consumer durables, re-estabishing UNIC products as affordable and high quality audio and video products.
UNIC's audio products include portable and pocket radios currently selling over half a million units annually.

Workshop on " Know Your Customer"
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce together with the Sri Lanka Association of Securities and Investment Advisors will host a workshop on "Know Your Customer" on July 10 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Customer due diligence requirements are not entirely new to Sri Lanka. The Central Bank has already issued guidelines to all licensed banks and registered financial institutions on the use of customer due-diligence procedures.

However, in the context of the various proposals to introduce laws to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, the new measures on customer due diligence will extend beyond their traditional scope of application, to financial institutions, non-financial businesses and professions with stricter compliance requirements on both customer due diligence and record keeping, reinforced by stronger enforcement mechanisms, according to a chamber statement.

A Central Bank led working group is now working on the draft Anti-Money Laundering legislation prepared by the Ministry of Justice. Speakers include Central Bank Governor A.S. Jayewardene, Kapila Jayawardena, CEO Citibank NA, Ranee Jayamaha, Assistant to the Governor, Central Bank, Aritta Wickremanayake, Senior Partner Nithya Partners and Asanga Seneviratne, CEO, Asia Capital Ltd.

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