Sri Lankan banks that have been awaiting for the approval from the Central Bank to operate as offshore-banks in the Colombo Port City, will be able to do so once amendments are made to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act No. 11 of 2021, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Bank Supervision Department Director R.R.S. De Silva Jayatillake informed the Committee of Public (COPF), on Tuesday (6).

“After the proposed amendments, it would be feasible for them to move with approval from the Central Bank, to set up a branch,” Jayatillake informed the COPF, which was discussing the setbacks faced by six local banks to set up off-shore banking branches in the Port City.  

“Local banks can operate their branches in the Port City and anyway the branches can do offshore banking. There is no impediment, it's just that they have to get approval to set up a branch in Port City.”

Adding to the discussion, Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC) Director General (DG) Revan Wickramasuriya said: “There were about six banks that had applied for a license to do offshore banking business under provision 27 of this Act, all Sri Lankan banks licensed within Sri Lanka.”

According to the Port City Colombo website, seven local banks and three international banking corporations were in discussion to set up offshore banking branches within the area of authority of the economic zone, as far back as 2024.

By September of 2024, the six local banks; Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka, Sampath, HNB, DFCC, NDB, and NTB, were also additionally approved as Authorised Persons (AP’s) by the Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC).

“There is a three-step process. First, you become an authorized person, following which the Commission recommends to the Ministry, the Minister of the Ministry in charge of the Port City, in consultation with the Minister of Finance engages with the Central Bank, and then reviews the licensing.” 

“In that process, the Central Bank had requested further information from those banks, and those banks, I stand to be corrected, had not provided the additional information to the Central Bank, to enable them to continue with the evaluation process,” Wickramasuriya said.