NCCSL and SEC hold awareness forum

The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) held an Issuer Awareness Forum on 'Debentures: Capital without collateral' last week at the National Chamber auditorium, to create awareness and to engage in a dialogue with members of Chamber and non-member SMEs, about the new initiative of the SEC and the CSE to reach out to SMEs.

Director Corporate Affairs, SEC, Harshana P. Suriyapperuma made a presentation on developing a new capital market product to channel funding to the SME sector.

The guidance of the Commission of the SEC to finance SMEs through the capital market was explained in detail.

He highlighted the features of the proposals, benefits to SMEs and key stakeholders, risk mitigation proposals and challenges when defining criteria for entry.

Suriyapperuma said that if key stakeholders are in agreement, an achievement was within reach.

Head of Listing and Corporate Affairs, CSE, Mrs. Priyana Gunasekera, outlined the benefits of issuing listed corporate bonds and debentures by SMEs which face difficulties with collateral.

A panel discussion illustrated some aspects of the proposed initiatives.

The panel comprised National Chamber, Senior Deputy President Thilak Godamanna, Secretary General and CEO Bandula Dissanayake, Registrar of Companies Department, Legal Officer, Heshan Mathugamage, P. Suriyapperuma and Mrs. Gunasekera.

SME owners and stakeholders engaged with the panel and obtained clarifications.