Sampath in fact-finding mission to Myanmar to start branch
View(s):Sampath Bank is currently undertaking a fact finding exercise in Myanmar to start a branch there, according to officials.
“We have been doing these studies for about two months. There’s still no final decision, but we’d like to have a presence in Myanmar,” Aravinda Perera, Managing Director, Sampath Bank told the Business Times. This has come on the back of Commercial Bank aiming to expand into new markets and applying for a banking licence in Myanmar. Commercial is also eyeing a stake in a bank in Nepal, according to Commercial officials.
At present, foreign banks are not yet allowed to operate in Myanmar, and when they are allowed in initially they will only be able to operate joint ventures with local banks, according the Central Bank of Myanmar. Analysts say that Sampath will initially set up a joint venture with a local entity and then look at expansions.
Sampath recorded net earnings of Rs 651.7 million in the second quarter 2013, which is a 48 per cent drop year on year owing to a notable decline in other operating income (down 41 per cent year on year) and a significant impairment provisioning which resulted in rise in collective impairment by a considerable 515 per cent year on year to Rs 828.7 million due to the dip in global gold prices, analysts said.
More than 30 foreign banks already have representative offices in Myanmar.