2026-08-28 | Banking Act Determination No. 01 of 2026Added
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka mandates that licensed banks obtain specific approved securities when granting accommodation to related parties, including directors, close relations, and concerns with substantial interests. The regulation defines acceptable collateral such as government guarantees, cash deposits, gold, immovable property, and corporate debentures, imposing loan-to-value caps ranging from 30 percent to 100 percent depending on the asset type. Licensed banks must implement these requirements effective 01 September 2026, simultaneously revoking prior determinations from 2024 and 2025. Additionally, banks are required to submit quarterly details of related party transactions via FinNet returns starting 30 September 2026.
CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA 28 August 2026 BANKING ACT DETERMINATION No. 01 of 2026
APPROVED SECURITIES FOR ACCOMMODATION GRANTED TO RELATED PARTIES OF LICENSED BANKS
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), with a view to mitigating potential conflicts of interest and preventing the extension of more favourable treatment to related parties of licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks (hereinafter referred to as licensed banks), and thereby ensuring the safety and soundness of the banking sector, by virtue of the powers conferred by Sections 47(3), (4), (5), (6) and (11B), and 76K of the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988, as amended, hereby issues this Determination on Approved Securities for Accommodation Granted to Related Parties of Licensed Banks.
1. Effective Date 1.1 Licensed banks shall implement this Determination with effect from 01.09.2026.
2. Related Parties 2.1 The "related parties" of licensed banks for the purpose of this Determination, are as follows: (a) a director of a licensed bank; (b) close relations of such director; (c) a concern in which a director of a licensed bank has a substantial interest, being an interest acquired either before or after the appointment as a director of such licensed bank; (d) a concern in which a close relation of a director of a licensed bank has a substantial interest; (e) a chief executive officer or an officer performing executive functions of a licensed bank in respect of any accommodation granted other than accommodation granted to such officer under a scheme applicable to the employees of such licensed bank; (f) a shareholder of a licensed bank having material interest, whether individual or a concern; (g) a subsidiary or an associate company of the licensed bank;
(h) a holding company of the licensed bank including its subsidiaries, excluding the parent bank and subsidiaries of a bank incorporated outside Sri Lanka; (i) a director of a subsidiary or an associate company of the licensed bank; (j) a director of a holding company of the licensed bank and its subsidiaries; (k) a close relation of a person specified in Determinations 2.1 (e) and (f) above; (l) a concern, whose director or partner is a director of such bank; (m) a concern in which a material shareholder of a licensed bank has substantial interest; and (n) a concern in which a close relation of an individual material shareholder has substantial interest.
3. Approved Securities in respect of Accommodation granted to Related Parties 3.1 The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has approved the following securities to be obtained by a licensed bank in granting accommodation to related parties of such bank referred to in Determination 2.1 above as the case may be: (a) Guarantees, provided that the accommodation granted would not exceed 100 per cent of the Guarantee; (i) Sri Lanka Government Guarantees provided that such Guarantees are reported as liabilities in the financial statements of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) (ii) Bank Guarantees (iii) Guarantees of international financial institutions such as World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Asian Development Bank (ADB), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (iv) In the case of licensed bank providing accommodation to Ministries and Departments of GOSL and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), such accommodation may be granted with a letter of undertaking or any other instrument issued by the General Treasury to the respective licensed bank and the borrower, provided that:
3.2 A concern which becomes a related party of the licensed bank only due to director or partner of such concern being a director of such licensed bank: Accommodation may be granted with the Loan Agreement between the borrower and the licensed bank provided that a specific condition is included in such loan agreement that the borrower undertakes to provide approved securities as specified in Determination 3.1 above, in the event of a deterioration of the credit quality depicting a significant increase in credit risk to the licensed bank, within 90 calendar days. Deterioration of credit quality shall mean downgrading of the borrower to Stage 3 in terms of the Banking Act Directions No. 13 of 2021 on "Classification, Recognition and Measurement of Credit Facilities in Licensed Banks".
4. Interpretations 4.1 For the purpose of this Determination: (a) Acceptable credit rating agency shall mean a credit rating agency that has been recognized as an acceptable External Credit Assessment Institution by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for the purpose of Banking Act Directions No. 01 of 2016 on "Capital Requirements under Basel III for Licensed Commercial Banks and Licensed Specialised Banks" and other related regulatory requirements pertaining to licensed banks, as amended. (b) Forced sale value shall be determined on a valid valuation report as specified in the Banking Act Directions issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from time to time, on "Regulatory Framework on Valuation of Immovable Properties of Licensed Banks".
5. Regulatory Submissions 5.1 Licensed banks shall submit the details of related party transactions to the Director of Bank Supervision in line with this Determination as at the end of each quarter commencing 30.09.2026, within one month from the quarter ended through the web-based FinNet returns, BSD-QF-06-RPC and BSD-QF-06-RPI.
6. Revocation 6.1 The following Determinations are hereby revoked with effect from 01.09.2026: (a) Banking Act Determination No. 04 of 2024 dated 01.10.2024 on Approved Securities for Accommodation Granted to Related Parties of Licensed Banks. (b) Banking Act Determination No. 01 of 2025 dated 17.07.2025 on Amendments to the Banking Act Determination No. 04 of 2024 on Approved Securities for Accommodation Granted to Related Parties of Licensed Banks.
Dr. P Nandalal Weerasinghe Chairman of the Governing Board and Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka