Lankan financial media could be bought:Former CCC Chief

Colombo, (LBO) – The quality of corporate financial analysis in Sri Lanka is poor and the financial media is believed to be corrupt, a top business executive said onTuesday.

Chandra Jayaratne, a former chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, said capital market investment analysts and financial journalists lacked adequate skills to do an effective job in reporting on corporate performance.

"Some financial media, it is widely believed, can be bought for two drams of arrack (to get news published)," he told a seminar for directors on the new corporate governance rules of the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Jayaratne's remarks echoed those of a former media minister, Mangala Samaraweera, who once told parliament that Sri Lankan journalists could be induced to publish news by bribing them with one bottle of liquor.

The new corporate governance rules are being made mandatory for listed firms from the financial year starting March or December 2009. In the current financial year, companies must comply or explain non-compliance.

Jayaratne, a former CEO and managing director of Eagle Insurance, said there was an industry-wide lack of skills – in boardrooms, investment funds and financial media – that meant bad corporate governance went unchallenged. He said he was aware of company directorates where directors did not read board papers before coming for meetings or refused to have their age revealed. There were many boards which have a majority of directors who are over 65 years of age.

Jayaratne said that it was a change in values and attitudes that was required, more than mere compliance with rules.