CB cancels Bimputh Finance license initiating compensation payments
While issuing a public notice, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) announced that the license issued to Bimputh Finance PLC (BFP) to carry on finance business has been cancelled with effect from September 1, 2023.
The suspension of this finance company was taken in terms of Section 37 of the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011.
The CBSL said they will take steps to pay compensation to all insured depositors as per the provisions of the Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance and Liquidity Support Scheme (SLDILSS) Regulation, No. 02 of 2021.
Therefore, all depositors are requested to submit the duly completed claim forms published in newspapers as specified, along with the required documents as given in the instructions for paying compensation.
Joint depositors are required to submit separate claim forms. Compensation payments for depositors will be directly credited to specified bank accounts through the Sri Lanka Inter Bank Payment System.
In terms of SLDILSS Regulations, insured depositors of BFP are required to submit their claims not later than two years starting from September 1, 2023, or before the appointment of the liquidator by a competent court in respect of the liquidation of BFP, whichever occurs earlier.
The claim form is available on the CBSL website, www.cbsl.gov.lk and copies of the same are available at the Head Office and Regional Offices of CBSL in Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Matale, Matara, Nuwara Eliya and Trincomalee.
Duly completed claim forms, along with the required documents, should either be hand delivered to the CBSL mail room or sent by registered post as early as possible. Please mention “BFP” on the top left-hand corner of the envelope.
Any further details can be obtained from the CBSL Head Office through the following telephone numbers: 0112-477261, 0112477276.
Bimputh Finance Plc, a non-micro-lender has been hit by price controls on microfinance.
Sri Lanka slapped across the board price controls on micro-loans which are costly to administer, instead punishing individual firms which were engaging in questionable practices including pushing loans to people who did not originally seek them.
“The contraction of Bimputh’s high-yield microfinance portfolio and regulatory interest-rate cap on microfinance lending continued to exert pressure on its net-interest margin,” finace ministry sources said.
A sharp deterioration in Bimputh’s capital position is no longer commensurate with its high-risk appetite,””This is due to the significant decline in asset quality and sustained fall in pre-impairment operating profitability.”
The central bank had already put a ceiling of 2.2 billion rupees on Bimputh until it can raise more capital.
The firm will need 1.35 billion rupees of capital to meet a 2.5 billion rupee regulatory requirement by 2021. It also had unprovisioned bad loans.
