CCC-SLBA ink MoU to promote sustainable finance and financial inclusion

From left: Sri Lanka Banks’ Association Secretary General Ravi De Silva, Sri Lanka Banks’ Association Chair and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Deputy Vice Chairman Bingumal Thewarathanthri and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Secretary General and CEO Buwanekabahu Perera 

Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Sri Lanka Banks’ Association  representatives

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (SLBA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise and strengthen their ongoing partnership in promoting sustainable finance and financial inclusion in Sri Lanka. 

The two organisations, through this partnership, aim to engage in building both demand-side and supply-side capacity and connectivity on sustainable finance in advancing the Sustainable Finance Roadmap for Sri Lanka and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. A key outcome aimed for through the MoU is to enable greater access for financing for Sri Lanka’s private sector, especially the export-oriented value chains and small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, to enable their sustainability transitions.

The CCC’s Vision 2030: Five-Year Economic Plan (2025-2030) outlines key targets, including increasing the share of Sri Lanka’s exports to 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and increasing the SME contribution to the economy to 60 percent of GDP. With global trade, finance and investment regimes increasingly emphasising sustainability, Sri Lanka’s private sector and industry must rapidly transition and build capacity to remain competitive in international markets.

The CCC’s Vision 2030 identifies key areas of mobilisation, including supporting the national target of 70 percent renewable energy share in electricity and the CCC’s advocacy for a 20 percent reduction in commercial energy intensity and mobilisation of resources for climate adaptation and resilience, especially in priority sectors such as agri-food.

With the banking sector accounting for over 60 percent of Sri Lanka’s financial sector assets, the SLBA has been actively supporting Sri Lanka’s green economy transition and financial inclusion with its voluntary Sustainable Banking Initiative (SBI) since 2015. While building internal capacity within the banking sector, the SBI has also engaged with the other sector associations to promote innovative sustainable finance solutions.

In 2023, the CCC and SLBA SBI together with the Sustainable Development Council embarked on a collaboration to explore innovative sustainable finance solutions. A key focus of this collaboration was to explore the establishment of a Blended Finance Facility that could attract private capital (both domestic and international) to address viability gaps in key sectors (such as agri-food) through risk sharing and structured finance solutions.
The MoU between the CCC and SLBA, whilst strengthening the ongoing cooperation on the blended finance initiative, also aims to extend support to the member companies of the two organisations with the national and industry level engagement on their sustainability and climate strategies – on opportunities and risks (IFRS S1 and S2), in developing capacity to align financing needs and mobilisation in terms of Sri Lanka’s Green Finance Taxonomy.