Nations Trust Bank is seeking to raise Rs. 13.8 billion through a rights issue, EconomyNext reported on Tuesday, citing the bank’s announcement to the Colombo Stock Exchange.
The bank will offer three ordinary non-voting convertible shares for every 22 ordinary voting shares and/or ordinary non-voting convertible shares held, priced at Rs. 305 each. It will issue 45,467,286 shares.
The proceeds will strengthen the bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital position, NTB said, “enabling sustainable growth and greater scale while ensuring that adequate buffers are maintained to absorb heightened risks.”
The issue is subject to approval by the Colombo Stock Exchange and by shareholders.
Context
Common Equity Tier 1 is the highest-quality layer of regulatory capital — largely ordinary shares and retained earnings — and is the buffer regulators look to first when assessing whether a bank can absorb losses. Raising it through a rights issue lets existing shareholders subscribe in proportion to their holdings rather than diluting them through a placement to outside investors.
Structuring the offer in non-voting convertible shares means the capital is raised without altering the bank’s voting control.
The bank reported a first-quarter 2026 profit after tax of Rs. 4.6 billion in May. It also took on HSBC’s Sri Lanka consumer banking business when the international lender withdrew from that segment earlier this year.
NTB joins several listed institutions that have gone to shareholders for capital this year, among them HNB Finance and Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, which also cited Tier 1 strengthening.
No timetable for the subscription period was reported, and the bank did not say what capital ratio the issue is expected to deliver.
