September 28, 2006 (LBO) -- The Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) and top state bank officials are due to present a comprehensive proposal to the President to make state banks more competitive. According to the SEMA, the Peoples’ Bank pension fund is short of 8.3 billion rupees, Bank of Ceylon 2.5 billion rupees and NSB 2.05 billion rupees. SEMA and state banks suggests that the banks leverage synergies to improve their competitive advantage, make intermediation more efficient, reduce competition among themselves and cut cost by encouraging co-investment in joint facilities, SEMA officials said.
SEMA says the initiative was taken under instructions from the President to improve the state banking sector and grow their market share.