News & market updates

AIA Group reported 25% growth in value of new business (VONB) to US$1,476m for the third quarter ended 30 Sep 2025. VONB margin rose 5.7 pps to 58.2% and annualised new premiums (ANP) grew 14% to US$2,550m.

AIA Group will extend its partnership with Tottenham Hotspur through June 2032, remaining the club's front-of-shirt sponsor until the end of the 2026/27 season and becoming the club's Global Training Partner from July 2027.

Tisara de Silva was elected President-Elect of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) for 2025/2026. He is a pharmacist with over 31 years' industry experience, a past president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Sri Lanka and a 27-year senior manager at GlaxoSmithKline.

KALBE Sri Lanka will offer free diabetes screenings at 42 Cargills Food City outlets in the Western Province from Nov 14–30, 2025, aiming to screen over 12,000 people in November and 100,000 in 12 months. Clinics will provide random glucose tests, education and Diabetasol samples.

The Sri Lanka–Thailand Business Council elected Rizan Nazeer as President and pledged to expand trade and cooperation, highlighting the Feb 2024 FTA that removes tariffs on about 85% of goods and aims to raise bilateral trade from roughly US$350m to over US$1bn. The Council plans to boost private-sector engagement, joint ventures and SME access across agriculture/food processing, health and wellness, tourism, renewable energy and technology.

Tranz Pharma Holdings launched the AIDEX X continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) in Sri Lanka, offering up to 15 days of continuous glucose monitoring to reduce finger pricks. The device, produced by Microtech Medical, was unveiled at a medical symposium and a hotline was set up for patient inquiries.

Sri Lanka's 2024 census shows the over-65 share rose to 12.6% and under-15s fell to 20.7%, pushing the dependency ratio to 49.8 dependents per 100 working-age people. The shift signals looming labour shortages in agriculture, garments and services and higher fiscal pressure on pensions and healthcare; retirement age has been raised to 60.

Sri Lanka's population reached 21,781,800 in 2024, up 1,422,361 since 2012; the elderly share rose to 12.6% (from 7.9%) and the dependency ratio increased to 49.8%, indicating an ageing population and slower youth growth with implications for housing and healthcare demand.

LIIN estimates Sri Lanka faces a $7–10bn annual investment gap to meet SDGs and is launching a $5m Impact Enterprise Fund (mid-2026) targeting SMEs with $50k–$100k investments and a first-loss guarantee covering up to 20% of defaults.

A Japan-funded $8.4m IOM–SLPA project launched a roadmap to upgrade traveller clearance and health security at Sri Lanka seaports and airports, including an Automated Border Control system at BIA due in December. Deliverables include biometric upgrades, 17 cargo scanners, a Colombo Port health office and measures to raise ports' GDP share toward 6% by 2030.

Selyn Foundation presented Sri Lanka’s #BleedGood initiative at the 3rd International Conference on Public Health and Nutrition (ICPHN 2025) in India, highlighting climate-conscious reusable menstrual products and evidence they improve adolescent health, reduce environmental impact and support school attendance.

Southern Cross University and NSBM Green University signed an agreement on 24 October 2025 to deliver Southern Cross offshore Australian degree programs in Sri Lanka, enabling students to earn Australian degrees locally. The partners also hosted the Southern Cross University CEO Pitch Fest 2025 in Kandy and Colombo, engaging over 340 students.

Melsta Hospitals will be the Gold Sponsor of Medicare 2026 (6–8 Mar 2026) and has secured National Accreditation under the 8th Edition—the first Sri Lankan hospital to do so. The group plans a five-year expansion including regional growth (Bangladesh) and medical tourism services.

The Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka held “Insurance for All” roadshows in Jaffna (22 Oct) and Kilinochchi (23 Oct), attracting about 1,200 and 500 participants to boost insurance awareness. IRCSL announced initiatives including motor e-cards, an insurance repository with CRIB, simplified standard products and a reduced premium payment warranty from 1 Jan 2026.

Colombo Stock Exchange rebounded as the ASPI rose 0.39% (88 pts) to 22,777.12 with turnover around Rs 5.38bn and foreign investors net sellers of Rs 372.5m. Key movers included Windforce (+17.6%), Colombo Dockyard (-9.9%) and gains in LAUGFS Gas and Lanka Realty Investments.

Sri Lanka Customs collected over LKR 24 billion in a single day, the highest daily revenue on record. The article argues that free-visa policies and development of free ports (citing China's Hainan) could boost tourism and trade, and calls for investor-friendly laws, infrastructure and competitive readiness.

Sri Lanka held a "Business & Tourism Opportunities in Sri Lanka" forum in Brussels on 13 October 2025 to promote trade, investment and tourism, highlighting opportunities in tourism, pharmaceuticals, F&B, ICT, renewable energy and exports such as tea and coconut products.

Emojot hosted global CX expert Bradford Smith in Colombo for two leadership forums at The Kingsbury on Sept 23 and 26, 2025. The sessions focused on using empathy, design-led thinking and AI to improve customer experience across hospitality, healthcare, retail, banking and telecoms.

Softlogic Life (part of Softlogic Holdings) launched a World Children’s Day campaign, “The Power of Being Different,” urging adults to reframe common childhood traits; the insurer highlights it protects over 1.3 million lives. The campaign reinforces Softlogic Life's brand positioning and its use of technology/AI in claims and service delivery.

Colombo market opened lower as the ASPI fell 0.10% to 22,788.79; major movers included Colombo Dockyard (DOCK +24.20%) and Ceylon Hospitals (CHL +25.64%), while C T Holdings, Central Finance and Richard Pieris were among the session's laggards.

Christell Luxury Wellness was named Asia‑Pacific's Wellness Clinic of the Year at the GlobalHealth Aesthetics and Wellness Summit 2025 in Singapore. It also won Gold in Aesthetic Clinic of the Year, Most Innovative Clinic, and Trichology Clinic (Non‑Transplant) categories, and its CEO was named Sri Lanka Aesthetic and Wellness Icon.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon employees wore pink on 24 October to support breast cancer awareness, ran branch awareness sessions and the bank was Gold Sponsor of the 2025 TLC triathlon. The bank reaffirmed commitments to women’s empowerment via workplace policies and its Anagi women’s banking products with IFC.

Firstdoctor launched a cloud-based doctor booking and telemedicine Platform-as-a-Service in Sri Lanka, enabling doctors and small clinics to digitise consultations, scheduling and prescriptions. The platform aims to improve accessibility and could support cross-border medical tourism by allowing remote pre-treatment consultations.

Kavinda de Zoysa, Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon, has been appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC.

Christell Luxury Wellness won the Asia-Pacific 'Wellness Clinic of the Year' award at the GlobalHealth Aesthetics & Wellness Summit 2025 in Singapore. The clinic also won Gold in three categories and its CEO, Dr Shanika Arsecularatne, was named Sri Lanka Aesthetic & Wellness Icon.

George Steuart Health held Achievers Night 2025 in Colombo to honour top-performing employees and distributors and said it ranks among the top four pharmaceutical firms in Sri Lanka. The company also announced plans to expand into local pharmaceutical manufacturing to develop new products and chemical entities.

Firstdoctor has launched a cloud-based doctor booking and telemedicine Platform-as-a-Service in Sri Lanka, offering scalable, secure and low-cost digital tools for doctors and patients and enabling remote consultations and potential medical-tourism reach.

Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the ministry has ordered 90 billion rupees of medicines from the State Pharmaceutical Corporation and will allocate a further 20 billion rupees — a 230% rise — to avert drug shortages. Cabinet approval was also given for 46.7 billion rupees of local purchases and total medical supplies spending is 183 billion.

AIA Insurance Lanka Limited's 'Suwa Walan' campaign won the Blue Dragon Award for Best Campaign in Sri Lanka and a Gold for Cause, Environment & Sustainability at the Dragons of Asia Awards 2025. The campaign, run with the Sri Lanka Cancer Society, promotes early breast-cancer detection using symbolic clay pots.

Curtin University Colombo hosted a high-level Australia–Sri Lanka research roundtable to develop joint projects in health, energy, agriculture, technology and policy. HNB's Chief Innovation Officer participated, with fintech and digital infrastructure among proposed collaboration areas.