News & market updates

Seylan Bank's athletics team placed 11th at the 40th Mercantile Athletics Championships, winning 8 Gold, 2 Silver and 9 Bronze medals. Several athletes received individual awards, including Overall Best Athlete – Male A. R. Chamika Weerawadena (4 Gold, 1 Silver, new 400m meet record) and a High Jump meet record.

Fly A World Consultants and Tourism (Pvt) Ltd received the Excellence in Travel Consultancy Services Award in the Small Scale Services Sector at the Honor of Business Talent 2026. The award recognises the firm's customer service, business performance and professional standards in Sri Lanka's travel and tourism industry.

JAT Holdings PLC will donate LKR 10,000 to the Indira Cancer Trust for every six hit by the Dambulla Sixers for the remainder of the 2026 Lanka Premier League. The cumulative contribution will be presented after the tournament and updates will be shared on JAT and Dambulla Sixers digital platforms.

HNB PLC signed a strategic partnership with Abans Auto on 1 June 2026 to expand Hyundai vehicle leasing in Sri Lanka, offering special rates, residual-value options (up to five years), repayment terms up to seven years, waived first-year credit-card fees and preferential insurance.

Kaspersky research of 7,200 respondents finds 52% of Gen Z have experienced device, account or data attacks. Despite 67% using smartphones as their main device, only 27% use mobile antivirus and 28% regularly back up smartphone data.

Cargills (Ceylon) Plc supported Soul Sounds' "The Pop Era" concert at the Lionel Wendt on July 12, 2026 as a production partner; the event also listed Havelock City and other brands among its supporters.

Infinite Grace Foundation and Canada's Cha's Organics signed a long-term partnership with Cha's as the Foundation's 'Legacy Partner' to provide financial support for mental health, humanitarian and community development initiatives in Sri Lanka. Future collaborations may direct product proceeds to fund programmes.

Sri Lanka's ASPI fell 0.20% to 21,171.86 at Friday midday; market turnover was Rs.1.62 billion, led by retailing (Rs.1.029 billion). Melstacorp, John Keells and Cargills were up, while Bukit Darah and Ceylinco Insurance were among the top decliners.

DFCC Bank PLC has partnered with SriLankan Airlines to launch the SriLankan Airlines DFCC Visa Platinum Credit Card, offering 3,000 bonus FlySmiLes Miles on enrolment and travel benefits including priority check-in, lounge access and extra baggage allowance.

3Rive Technologies has become an official partner in Anthropic's Claude Partner Network, expanding its regional AI-first legal technology services and planning public Claude workshops and community building in Colombo.

Crystal Property Group launched MIRA Weligama, an ultra-luxury branded residence of 44 units priced from US$400,000 and managed by The One Group, with completion scheduled for September 2028.

TECNO launched the CAMON 50 Pro in Sri Lanka, featuring AI 60X Super Zoom, SuperZoom FlashSnap, a 50MP Sony Ultra Night Camera, IP68/IP69K rating and priced at LKR 159,999. The phone is available islandwide through authorised TECNO retailers and targets young users with advanced camera and AI features.

Samsung Sri Lanka will open pre-orders soon for the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold8. Pre-orders will be available through authorised Samsung stores and dealers islandwide, with details on availability and customer benefits to be announced.

Siddhalepa Group reconstructed and handed over a new flower stall complex along the access road to the Katharagama Kirivehera Rajamaha Viharaya. The project, a tribute to founder Dr Victor Hettigoda, aims to preserve cultural heritage and support local women’s sustainable livelihoods.

China Unicom Beijing and Huawei launched the world's largest 5G-A 100 MHz GigaUplink commercial network, recording a 100 MHz uplink effective ratio of 83%, peak uplink 1 Gbps and average uplink 397 Mbps in a 34 km drive test. The deployment used 3.5 GHz + 2.1 GHz SUL and demonstrated support for AI device and real-time cloud scenarios.

Janashakthi Finance PLC (BFN.N0000) marked its 45th anniversary, highlighting its rebranding from Orient Finance, strong customer sentiment, industry awards and plans to accelerate digital transformation and financial inclusion supported by parent JXG (JXG.N0000).

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will host a business networking session with a 30-member Indian Chamber of Commerce delegation on 28 July at the Hilton Colombo Residences to connect Sri Lankan firms with Indian companies. Participating sectors include manufacturing, construction, healthcare, IT, renewable energy and tourism.

Dr Binod Chaudhary said his group's BYD venture with John Keells expanded into 25 countries within a year and credited the partnership for that growth. He urged Sri Lankan boards to pair sound governance with global ambition, citing Wai Wai's export success and the need to embrace AI.

University of Leicester Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sir Nishan Canagarajah urged Sri Lankan corporate boards to become faster, more agile and globally focused, calling for calculated risk-taking, greater diversity of thought, stronger scenario planning and cultures that welcome challenge.

The Employees' Provident Fund exited its holding in unlisted Canwill Holdings, transferring the stake to the Government and recovering Rs. 5 billion of capital. EPF retains a claim on any future upside and has redeployed the funds into income-generating investments; CBSL noted unlisted assets are revalued annually under IFRS.

Deputy Minister Eranga Weeraratne urged boards and CEOs to set the tone on data privacy and embed protection into digital systems from the start, calling for stronger digital literacy and investment in secure infrastructure as Sri Lanka expands digital services.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Colombo Stock Exchange and CA Sri Lanka signed an MoU to implement XBRL-based digital reporting for all CSE-listed companies, with the CSE completing UAT and a rollout targeted for the latter part of 2026.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC won six awards at the 2026 Asian Banking and Finance Awards — the most by any Sri Lankan bank. The honours cover retail, wholesale and corporate banking and recognise its AI SME credit underwriting, green financing (including a Rs.15 billion green bond) and a loan book above Rs.2 trillion.

Colombo market extended its rebound as the ASPI rose 0.24% (49.81 pts) to 21,199.37 and the S&P SL20 gained 0.22% to 5,945.87, with turnover about Rs.1.1bn and foreigners net sellers of Rs.188.6m. Top contributors included HNB, CARS, CINS, NDB and TKYO; NDB, SAMP and PKME gained while MELS fell and JKH closed flat.

Comedian Sashi Perera performs her Pear Tree show in Colombo today (24 July) with a matinee at 4:00pm and main show at 7:00pm at Elphinstone Theatre, and tomorrow (25 July) a Pear Tree Salon at 7:30pm at COCO Bar. Tickets via sashiperera.com or scarletcatonline.com; signed copies of her memoir available at the salon.

Pan Asia Banking Corporation (PABC.N0000) has partnered with the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation to add SLECIC's APARA Guarantee Cover to its Remit Max Pre-Departure Loan Scheme, expanding access to pre-departure loans for migrant workers. The move aims to boost financing availability for prospective overseas workers and support remittance inflows.

CRIB hosted its Annual CEOs Forum and Institutional Rating Awards 2026 and officially launched the MyCRIB mobile app to give citizens real-time access to credit profiles and scores. The event, attended by CEOs across banks, NBFIs, insurance, telecoms and utilities, emphasised digital transformation, AI, data governance and financial inclusion.

MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka was named Sri Lanka's highest-ranked agency on the Effie Index 2025, retaining a spot in the global Top 100 and APAC Top 20 after earning 124 points as an agency office (221 combined across six categories).

Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake will retire in November and holds more than $860 million in company shares and share units. Greg Ward has been named her successor, and shareholders at the AGM raised concerns about executive pay and Macquarie's financing of fossil fuel projects.

The CSE, together with the SEC and CA Sri Lanka, held issuer forums in Monaragala (16 July) and Batticaloa (18 July) to educate SMEs on alternative capital-raising options, covering IPOs, the Empower Board, SME creditworthiness, succession planning and financial management.