New Banks in North and East

Central Bank says that they have given approval to open 136 bank branches in the North and Eastern Provinces since the end of the decade’s long conflict.  There are 59 new bank branches in the above Provinces following the end of the conflict.

The Monetary Authority has given permission to open 64 branches in the East and 72 in the North.

The Bank says that only few applications were received from foreign banks operating here in the country to open branches in the North East regions and most of the applications received came from local banks.

Among them ranks HSBC which opened a branch in Jaffna, Habib Bank in the East and the Indian Bank which is planning to open a branch in Jaffna.

SME sector covers the areas such as Fisheries, IT and Hotels and also the agriculture sector provides the biggest opportunity for banking business in those regions, say authorities.  Accordingly North and East provide a major opportunity for the banking sector