Beyond profitability, Bank of Ceylon conducts workshop on “Integrity at work, in financial services”

For the first time in Sri Lanka, a bank has conducted a workshop recently on “Integrity at Work, in Financial Services.” 

The workshop was conducted by the state-owned Bank of Ceylon, ‘Bankers to the Nation’. In its continuing quest to progress towards best practice, whether in core banking functions or investing in Information and Communication Technology, the Bank of Ceylon, has enhanced the momentum of training and developing its people. Towards that end, the Bank recently invited the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) UK - the leading professional body for securities, investment, wealth and financial planning professionals to conduct a workshop on integrity. Formed in 1992 by the London Stock Exchange practitioners, CISI has a global community of more than 40,000 members in 116 countries and last year more than 40,000 CISI exams were sat in 80 countries. 

In the words of CISI, “In Banking and Finance, Integrity Matters.” 

The events of the past few years provide a reminder of the importance of firms acting and demonstrating their honesty, openness, transparency and fairness in all their business activities. Poor actions by single individuals can result in great costs to firms, both financially and through loss of reputation. Fostering an environment of trust, integrity and professionalism leads to greater confidence, ultimately strengthening a firm’s reputation in the market. 

The workshop was presented by CISI CEO Simon Culhane. Having worked with a number of blue chip financial companies and in Central Government, his previous role was at Deutsche Bank where he worked as Director, Chairman’s Office, Global Investment Banking. For three years prior to this, Simon was Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit, Cabinet Office where he was responsible for the Unit’s work in a number of major Government Departments. Simon achieved his professional banking qualifications whilst in his early career with Lloyds Bank PLC, undertaking a number of roles including Senior Group Manager, Retail Banking and in Chicago, USA. A Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Simon was educated at St Paul’s School London and the University of Surrey.  

‘Integrity at Work in Financial Services’ is an interactive workshop that explores real-life ethical challenges experienced in the workplace and offers attendees the unique opportunity to vote, using individual voting machines, on how they would respond should they be faced with the challenge. This workshop has been conducted by CISI in several countries overseas and has been well received. 

The workshop at Bank of Ceylon was conducted under the auspices of the Bank’s Audit Committee. The Chairman of the Audit Committee, Ranel Wijesinha, who was recently invited by CISI to serve on the Honorary, Country Advisory Panel, suggested to CISI to partner with the Bank and to conduct this session as an awareness building, introductory workshop, on a complimentary basis, for possible later roll-out to the Banking and Financial sector in particular, and public and private sector institutions in general. CISI readily responded and conducted this workshop on an entirely gratis basis. More than 60 senior personnel, comprising the General Manager, several Deputy General Managers, Assistant General Managers and Chief Managers, paused in their day to day work, recognising that building awareness on how to respond to real-life ethical challenges, is a necessary investment in the Bank’s people. To ensure minimum hours away from their work, the workshop commenced at 12 noon and concluded by 2.15 pm.

The event had been received exceptionally well by the participants of Bank of Ceylon and is considered an example for further workshops in the country. Country Advisory Panel Chairman Nihal Fonseka, and CISI Country Manager Brian Selvanayagam were delighted that the event went well and CISI was expected to invite other institutions to consider conducting this workshop. It is understood that Simon Culhane was in the country once again, last week, and had conducted similar workshops at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Nations Trust Bank.