Bank of Ceylon: Pride of celebrating 76 years of dedicated service

Two of Bank of Ceylon’s longstanding customers former national cricket players Sidath Wettamuni and Muttaih Muralidaran receiving tokens at the 76th Anniversary celebrations at BOC with the distinguished patronage of the bank’s Chairman, Board of Directors and General Manager 

Bank of Ceylon celebrated 76 years on 1 August. Envisioned to lead the Sri Lankan banking sector for another 100 years and more this undisputed leader has touched millions of lives from all walks of life through its inherent commitment to the nation’s economic development. 

The bank also celebrated a unique milestone, its 75th anniversary on a grand scale in 2014. The seeds of its birth were sown when a state council member George E. De Silva spearheaded a demand for the establishment of a state aided bank. The inauguration took place at No. 41 Bristol Street, Colombo Fort on 1 August 1939 with the patronage of the British Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott. 

In 1941 Bank of Ceylon opened its first outstation branch in the hill capital of Kandy. Orchestrating an expansion of its branch network it was able to reach all the main cities throughout the country. Currently it has over 620 branches across the country with over 1,000 customer touch points. Apart from its main branches the bank also maintains 15 SME units to encourage entrepreneurial growth at the grass root level. The bank’s overseas network expansion began in 1949 with the opening of Bank of Ceylon London Branch; since then it has expanded over to Male in 1981, Chennai in 1995 and moved to Seychelles in 2014. 

The BOC Tower as we know it today was once the pride of Colombo’s skyline. Standing at 32 stories, construction commenced in 1982 and was ceremonially opened in 1987. 

In more recent times, innovative steps and out-of-the-box thinking has enabled BOC to grow stronger and strengthen the country’s economic resources. The multi-faceted services are the greatest strength of BOC. From the children’s savings account to corporate credit, for state sector and private organisations, BOC is active at every level. The BOC has the strength and the diversity of resources to offer its customers a range of financial solutions; such as Corporate Banking, Personal Banking, SME Banking, Islamic Banking, Investment Banking, Off-shore Banking, Development Banking, International and Treasury and Trade Financing services, through its widely spread branch network covering all parts of the country.

“Bank of Ceylon is the No 1 bank in the banking and financial industry in Sri Lanka. We know that every step we take to re-modify and transform our banking processes has the effect of providing greater value to Sri Lankans at large. Addressing this concern at all times the bank continuously maintains and enhances its services to suit the changing lifestyle of Sri Lankans,” stated President’s Counsel Bank of Ceylon Chairman Ronald C. Perera. By understanding the needs of customers the bank is now in the process of transforming the branch network to facilitate customer convenience and speedy service. 

“Transformation is a key agenda of the bank to ensure that we deliver to our customers the best possible banking experience in return for the trust that they have placed in us for 76 years. We look forward to introducing state-of-the-art technology and transforming of BOC branches to provide utmost convenience to our customers,” stated the bank’s General Manager D.M. Gunasekara.   

The Bank of Ceylon earned global recognition as one of the top 1000 banks in the world, (Country rank No.1) as listed by The Banker Magazine (UK) respectively in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The bank claimed its award as the only Sri Lankan brand recognised as one of Asia’s Best Brands in 2013 by the Chief Marketing Officer’s Council (CMO Council) based in Mumbai, India. Brand Finance Lanka ranked Bank of Ceylon as the country’s No. 1 brand for the last seven consecutive years. The bank has passed exceptional milestones in recent years such as becoming the first to gain over Rs. 1.0 trillion assets. Focusing on the bank’s achievement, Fitch Rating Lanka ranked the Bank of Ceylon at AA+(lka) which is the highest rating awarded to a local commercial bank and ICRA (lk) awarded AAA rating which is the highest credit quality rating issued by ICRA Lanka. 

On 1 August, Bank of Ceylon celebrated its 76th Anniversary. Leading the banking and financial sector since 1939, the BOC has constantly succeeded in contributing to the growth of our nation and continues to assist the development of the country and guide entrepreneurs to reach greater heights thus living up to its reputation as the ‘Bankers to the Nation’.