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Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd. has upgraded Sampath Bank's National Long Term Rating from A+ (sri) to 'AA- (sri)' (double A minus). 'AA- (sri)' long-term rating reflects Sampath Bank's improving financial profile and denotes a very low expectation of credit risk. The rating also indicates a very strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments and is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.

Relative to most peers, Sampath Bank ranks higher in terms of profitability. Its pre-provisioning ROA was 3.0% in 2005 (2.9% in 2004), the highest among the large local banks. In the meantime, Sampath Bank is operationally more efficient than most other local banks partly on account of its wide spread use of technology.

Sampath Bank commenced business in 1987 and is engaged in corporate and consumer banking. The bank's network now comprises 85 branches and 111 ATMs, which is also supported with other delivery channels such as tele-banking and internet banking.

In 2003, Sampath Bank together with a consortium of other investors, acquired a controlling interest in Union Bank of Colombo. Besides its operations in Sri Lanka, Sampath Bank has a 30.8% stake in LankaBangla Finance Ltd., a merchant bank in Bangladesh.

Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd. is a joint venture between Fitch Ratings, USA, International Finance Corporation Washington, Central Bank of Sri Lanka and several other leading local financial institutions.

Fitch Ratings, USA is one of the three global full service credit rating agencies and rates over 90 sovereign nations, 8,500 structured finance ratings, 3,200 international banks and financial institutions and 1,300 Corporates.

A detailed credit analysis report is available on www.fitchratings.lk.

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