News & market updates

Softa Technologies' privacy-focused social platform ZKTOR has exceeded 500,000 beta users across India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, driven largely by Gen Z and young women. ZKTOR uses zero-knowledge architecture, no behaviour tracking and multilayer encryption, and plans expansion to Bhutan, Pakistan and the Maldives, signalling demand for privacy-led regional platforms and potential digital jobs in Sri Lanka.

NCINGA won the 2026 Google Cloud Partner of the Year Award for Social Impact: Community Empowerment and Resilience. The firm says it leverages Google Cloud and Google AI for digital inclusion, education, healthcare and renewable energy transition programs and directs 10% of net profits to its Foundation of Humanity.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives pledged deeper economic cooperation at the Maldives–Sri Lanka Business Forum in Colombo, with Maldives announcing investment‑friendly reforms and leaders urging expansion of bilateral trade (US$137m in 2025), tourism, infrastructure and sector partnerships.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon (COMB.N0000) was named 'Best Bank in Sri Lanka' by Global Finance for the 24th time. The bank highlighted stronger ROE (over 21%), low cost-to-income, controlled NPLs, asset/loan/deposit growth, leading SME lending and advances in digital innovation including AI underwriting.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka signed an MoU with Australia's Skills for an Inclusive Economy (S4IE) to pilot digital financial literacy training for MSMEs to improve access to finance and inform scalable policy. Lessons from the pilot will guide future CBSL programs and potential scale-up.

National Savings Bank launched an island-wide Digital Drive promoting NSBPay and NSB QR with town-storming activations, hands-on demonstrations and real-time onboarding across key locations to boost digital banking adoption and onboard small merchants.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Power and Energy is implementing technical reforms — procuring RE-desk software, operating a renewable forecasting system, and installing battery energy storage systems and a synchronous condenser — to prevent a repeat of the Feb 9, 2025 nationwide outage. The Ceylon Electricity Board has been ordered to implement 12 recommendations, update protection parameters and load-shedding settings, and a four-member committee will monitor progress.

The IMF omitted Sri Lanka’s 2026 GDP projection from its April 2026 World Economic Outlook, signaling a fragile recovery linked to incomplete debt restructuring, governance failures and banking-sector issues, Ganeshan Wignaraja said.

First Capital Research says the VAT amendment—raising VAT on financial services to 20.5% while removing the 2.5% SSCL—leaves the effective tax burden broadly unchanged and is unlikely to materially affect profitability of listed financial institutions; the bill would take effect 1 July 2026 subject to Parliamentary approval.

The Government's VAT (Amendment) Bill would, from July 1, lower the VAT registration threshold to Rs.36 million, widen the VAT net to include digital services and raise VAT on financial services from 18% to 20.5%. The Bill also mandates IRD‑approved secure POS reporting and increases fines and potential jail for serious offences.

Daraz Sri Lanka launched its 5.5 Best Price Sale (4 May 8 PM–9 May), offering up to 65% off, Rs. 50 million in vouchers, free delivery and partner discounts including 20% offers from Commercial Bank and Nations Trust Bank.

Dijital Team Sri Lanka launched LinkedIn Learning for all its employees, giving its 250+ Sri Lanka staff access to LinkedIn's training resources after an in-person walkthrough by the LinkedIn India team.

HUTCH Sri Lanka has launched HUTCH Enterprise to offer integrated connectivity and digital solutions to corporates, SMEs, startups and government, backed by parent CK Hutchison. Services include mobile-for-business, IoT, internet leased lines, cloud, cybersecurity, web/domain and API/workplace digitization.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon (COMB.N0000) was named 'Best Bank in Sri Lanka' by Global Finance in its World's Best Banks 2026 awards for the 24th time. The bank reported ROE above 21%, improved cost-to-income, tightly controlled NPLs, strong SME lending and continued digital/AI innovation.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka signed an MoU with Australia's Skills for an Inclusive Economy to pilot a digital financial literacy program for MSMEs. The pilot will test approaches to improve access to finance, institutional coordination and the enabling environment, with lessons to inform future policy and scaling.

Dialog Enterprise (Dialog Axiata PLC) has partnered with Seceon Inc to deploy the aiSIEM AI-driven platform, expanding its managed detection and response services for real-time threat detection across networks, endpoints, cloud and applications. The deal enables a multi-tenant SOC model to offer scalable MSSP services to sectors including banking, finance, telecoms and government.

Bank of Ceylon's BOC Flex app won three awards at the Digital CX Awards 2026 in Singapore, including Best Customer Experience via Mobile and Internet Banking and Best Digital Bank for Customer Experience. The app has over 1.6 million active users and processed over Rs. 1 trillion in transactions in 12 months.

DFCC Bank PLC has partnered with the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka to support SME growth by offering export-oriented workshops, financial literacy, business advisory services and market access through the From Sri Lanka platform.

SDB bank's UPay digital wallet received a Merit recognition in the Best Digital Payment Application for Retail Payments category at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2026. The award highlights the bank's efforts to advance secure, accessible digital payment services for retail customers.

Bank of Ceylon opened its Badalgama branch, expanding its network to over 660 branches and more than 2,400 customer service centres. The branch offers retail deposits, loans, remittance and pawning services and complements the bank’s digital offerings such as the BOC Flex mobile app and online banking.

Emirates has restored 96% of its global network, operating to 137 destinations across 72 countries with over 1,300 weekly frequencies (75% of pre-disruption capacity); it continues three daily flights to Colombo.

Nations Trust Bank completed the acquisition of HSBC Sri Lanka’s retail banking business effective May 1, adding about 200,000 retail customer accounts and seven branches to its network.

Nations Trust Bank (NTB) completed the transfer of HSBC Sri Lanka’s retail banking portfolio effective 1 May 2026, acquiring the business for Rs. 18 billion and adding about 200,000 retail customer accounts. The integration includes onboarding HSBC staff, seven added branches (network now 96) and continued digital and branch support for customers.

Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that replacing a worker with AI does not qualify as a "major change" under Chinese Labour Contract Law and found the dismissal unlawful. The ruling sets a precedent that firms must negotiate, offer training and reasonable reassignments before terminating employees due to AI implementation.

Nations Trust Bank (NTB) completed the transfer of HSBC Sri Lanka’s retail banking business effective 1 May 2026, bringing ~200,000 retail customer accounts and adding seven branches to expand NTB’s network to 96 branches.

Union Bank of Colombo (UBC.N0000) reported 1Q 2026 PBT of Rs. 465m (up 260%) and PAT of Rs. 334m (up 570%). Gross income rose 24% to Rs. 4.9bn with NII of Rs. 1,649m; sale of UB Finance shares added Rs. 213m and a Rs. 3bn debenture strengthened Tier II capital.

SriLankan Airlines won two South Asia awards at the PAX International Readership Awards 2026 — Best Overall Passenger Experience and Most Improved Airline. The airline highlighted ongoing end-to-end enhancements, including digital/AI upgrades and expanded self-check-in and bag drop facilities.

Dipped Products PLC launched 'DPL EasyPay', a digitised procurement system connecting 4,500+ latex farmers and 40+ agents, enabling 50% instant payments at collection and saving ~6,200 man-hours monthly. The offline-capable platform adds QR traceability, biometric validation and SAP integration and is shortlisted for a digital impact award.

Corporate Management Consultants will host a seminar on 'Strengthening Integrity of Sri Lanka’s Banking Sector' on 21 May (2–5pm, Cinnamon Lakeside) focusing on fraud prevention, risk governance and global best practices. Speakers include the Amana Bank MD, Cargills Bank Senior Independent Director and the PMF Finance PLC Chairman.