Financial Times

Relief at last for Pramuka depositors
By Quintus Perera
Worried depositors of now defunct Pramuka Savings and Development Bank (PSDB) – in danger of losing their money -- can look forward to better times, particularly for those with deposits less than Rs 100,000.

When K C Vignarajah, President, Pramuka Restructuring Committee and the representatives of the Depositors Association led by its President, Palitha Gamage met the Minister of State Bank Development, Wijayadasa Rajapakse recently, the latter said a state bank would be set up to take over the assets and liabilities of Pramuka probably by the end of this month or the beginning of next month. Ven Athureliye Rathana Thero, JHU MP was associated in the discussions.

Vignarajah said that the meeting was very fruitful and once the assets and liabilities are taken over by the new bank the backlog of unpaid interest of all the deposits for the last three years would be paid. The deposits that are less than Rs 100,000 could also be withdrawn fully. However, the rate of interest would be based on the current interest rates and not on the basis of the rates that were agreed by Pramuka earlier.

It was also agreed that the large deposits could be kept in the new bank for another two or three years before withdrawing them. Meanwhile it was also decided that the ‘difficult’ cases would be looked at individually, on a case-by-case basis.

Vignarajah said Pramuka depositors are jubilant on the decision of the government to set up a new Bank to take over the assets and liabilities of the failed bank. A general meeting of the depositors is to be held shortly to discuss the “good” news, he said.

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