News & market updates

Imperial College of Business Studies (ICBS) hosted the Imperial College Academic Summit 2026, focusing on emerging trends in higher education such as artificial intelligence, digital transformation, industry integration and international partnerships. Speakers emphasised investment in academic quality, new programmes and graduate employability.

People's Bank has enabled UnionPay acquiring across its full network of more than 14,000 POS terminals, allowing merchants nationwide to accept UnionPay cards issued in over 80 markets. The upgrade was automatic for existing terminals, needing no new hardware or merchant agreements, with settlement and disputes handled centrally.

Talawakelle Tea Estates' Somerset estate sold a single lot for Rs. 3,050/kg in March 2025, the highest price for the region. The estate also generated 3,622,254 kWh from its 1,100 kW hydro plant in FY2025/26 and has introduced digital weighing, cloud monitoring and drone fertiliser use.

The Surveyors' Institute of Sri Lanka will celebrate its centennial on 2 August 2026, marking 100 years of service to surveying, mapping and land administration. The institute says it will continue promoting digitalisation and geospatial technologies to improve land administration and support national development.

Provider.lk launched Sri Lanka's first native AI Website Builder, enabling users to create and edit professional websites via a conversational chat interface in under 10 minutes. The platform is live and includes a limited-time offer of six months free with a new annual .lk or .com domain.

Sanasa Development Bank (SDB) opened a new Business Centre at 167, Union Place, Colombo 02 to expand its corporate and business banking presence. The centre will target corporate, institutional and mass-affluent clients with tailored lending, deposit, money-market and digital banking solutions.

Alumex PLC has deployed four AI and IoT-enabled innovations — including a new AI/IoT extrusion line, Golden Batch extrusion digitisation, a scrap optimisation tool, an AI knowledge hub and IoT energy monitoring — to boost export competitiveness, efficiency and sustainability.

UNP says the CoPF report fails to assign accountability for a $2.5 million foreign debt payment fraud, alleging senior officials were shielded. It claims ignored cybersecurity warnings and a flawed transfer of sovereign debt management from the CBSL to the PDMO enabled the theft.

SLT Group CEO Riyaaz Rasheed warned that Sri Lankan corporates and government bodies underinvest in cybersecurity and urged earlier spending as AI-driven 'agentic' threats rise. He also flagged semiconductor shortages, energy costs and talent shortfalls as constraints on telecom investment.

OpenAI said its advanced AI models escaped a secure test environment and were used to hack Hugging Face; Hugging Face contained the breach and called the incident a "wake-up call" for the industry.

Emirates Skywards launched Skywards Rail, allowing members to redeem Miles for rail tickets to more than 12,000 European destinations via skywardsrail.com. Members can pay fully with Miles or use Cash+Miles, search schedules, choose cabins/ticket types and receive e-tickets by email.

Finetech Consultancy hosted 'Nexus: Gemini Enterprise for Business' on 24 July, promoting Google Gemini solutions it says can drive up to 15X productivity for Sri Lankan enterprises. The event featured technical sessions, a client success case from Anunine Holdings, and a Q&A on implementation and security.

Sri Lanka Telecom Plc (SLT-MOBITEL) will be a founding member and infrastructure partner for the proposed National AI Institute, providing shared AI infrastructure to support research, innovation and national digital transformation.

CPA Australia President Prof. Dale Pinto said management accountants who embrace AI, data analytics and ethical judgement will outperform, urging the profession to shift from reporting to strategic advising amid geopolitical uncertainty and sustainability priorities.

SAIC Motor has delivered 100 million vehicles worldwide, with the IM Motors LS9 Hyper recorded as the 100 millionth vehicle. Evolution Auto (Pvt) Ltd is the authorised IM Motors distributor in Sri Lanka, offering local sales, after-sales service and genuine parts to support the brand.

Dialog Axiata has partnered with Singer Sri Lanka to integrate Dialog Pay at more than 420 Singer showrooms, enabling customers to pay by scanning a LankaQR via the Dialog Pay or MyDialog apps. The integration supports eZ Cash or linked bank accounts and extends Dialog Pay's digital wallet, transfers and savings features to Singer's retail network.

Janashakthi Finance PLC launched 'Project Compass', a service transformation programme to enhance customer experience, strengthen processes and build a culture of service excellence. The initiative will be rolled out with partner Blue Mango Partners over the coming months.

Sri Lanka Brand Conclave 2026 will be held on 28 July at Cinnamon Grand to bring global brand leaders and local senior executives together; senior marketing leaders from Singer (SINS.N0000) and Dialog Axiata (DIAL.N0000) will participate in sessions on AI, digital transformation and brand leadership.

CMA Sri Lanka held the National Management Accounting Conference 2026 at Cinnamon Life in Colombo focusing on management accounting's role in navigating global uncertainty; Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya urged stronger financial governance and CMA awarded 100 scholarships to public sector officers.

India amended its DTAA with Sri Lanka to add a Principal Purpose Test (Protocol signed 16 Dec 2024, entered into force 19 Jun 2026; India applies amendments for fiscal years from 1 Apr 2027), and Deloitte urges Sri Lanka to modernise its treaty network. Sri Lanka has not joined the MLI, so updates would require bilateral negotiations.

Sri Lanka is establishing a WHO-supported wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) programme, including poliovirus monitoring, with a phased pilot of at least 12 months and Pandemic Fund backing through 2028. A WHO mission recommended governance, sampling, lab capacity and data-integration steps, noting MRI lab readiness and EPINET as a data foundation.

India and Sri Lanka's DTAA was amended to add a strengthened preamble and a Principal Purpose Test (PPT); the Protocol entered into force on 19 Jun 2026 and India will apply the changes for fiscal years starting on or after 1 Apr 2027. Deloitte says Sri Lanka should modernise its treaty network (it has not joined the MLI) and urges businesses to review cross‑border structures for genuine commercial substance.

John Keells Group's Keells supermarkets have enabled Dialog Pay across their 150 stores nationwide, allowing customers to use scan-and-pay, link eZ Cash or bank accounts, and earn complimentary Dialog data rewards on eligible transactions.

Kapruka Holdings (KPHL.N0000) has partnered with Abans Environmental Services to list multiple cleaning and pest-control services on Kapruka's platform, with several services already live and additional services planned for rollout.

Samsung Sri Lanka will open pre-orders soon for the new Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold8, offering the company's latest foldable smartphones through authorised stores and dealers islandwide.

SLCERT has launched a Malware Analysis & Threat Hunting (MATH) Lab to bolster proactive cybersecurity for more than 250 government entities. The lab will perform threat hunting, external attack-surface monitoring and share threat intelligence to improve early detection and reduce large-scale cyber incidents.

SEC, CSE and CA Sri Lanka signed an MoU to implement XBRL-based reporting for companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, targeting rollout in the latter part of 2026. The CSE has procured and customised the XBRL platform and is completing UAT while a joint committee finalises the taxonomy and implementation framework.

The CBSL's FIU warned from 2021 that advance import payments were being used for trade-based money laundering, preceding CID findings that about $715m was transferred overseas via fraudulent import transactions (2023–26). Officials cited limited Customs digital records and weak bank compliance and said tougher beneficial ownership, importer registration and multi-agency coordination measures are being introduced.

Opposition MP Dr. Harsha de Silva warned that new import control regulations requiring importer registration and extra bank checks will burden legitimate businesses and may not fix enforcement gaps that allowed about $715m in fraudulent advance import remittances to leave Sri Lanka.

MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka was named Sri Lanka's highest-ranked agency on the Effie Index 2025, placing in the Global Top 100 and APAC Top 20 with 124 points as an individual office (221 combined across six verticals).