Lacking in customer care? Bank of Ceylon hopes to make significant changes
At the media conference held in Colombo last Wednesday (30/7) with regard to the 75th Anniversary of the Bank of Ceylon (BOC), its Chairman, Air Chief Marshal (Rtd.) Harsha Abeywickrama conceded that the country’s premier state bank lacked customer care but was aiming to rectify it.
He said, “We were looking a lot of complaints that have come in the recent past regarding lack of customer care. We have identified it and would give training to our staff so that the customer services could be improved.”
At the media briefing: (from left) - D.M. Gunasekara, General Manager; Air Chief Marshal Harsha Abeywickrama - Chairman and P. A. Lionel, Senior Deputy General Manager, International, Treasury and Investment . Pic by Ranjit Perera
During question time, journalists brought the bank’s affairs under the microscopic on issues like lending policy, whether lending is influenced, the US$500 million bond issue, whether the government’s favouritism affected BOC’s stand on a level playing field and so on and so forth. The grilling forced BOC officials on the defensive. The chairman, a retired air force commander, said that BOC was established in 1939 and now developed to be the foremost bank in Sri Lanka with a Rs. 1.2 trillion asset base, having 619 branches all around the country. BOC, he said is different from other banks in many facets to be called the bankers to the nation is closer to the general public “because the masses of this country are from the villages.” The BOC is the main rural bank and was supporting the agricultural sector from its inception, he said.
Reflecting on the past, he said the bank moved forward with the times and in 1977 with the open economy, started overseas banking with the first branch in Chennai, India. He said that the first leasing company was established in Sri Lanka in collaboration with a Japanese company. While BOC is considered to be the premier bank in the country, he said that they would take BOC to greater heights.
He made known their intentions to overhaul BOC with many changes and said, that they have identified certain areas that are lacking and noted that technology would be introduced on par with the rest of the world standards. “We will keep up with the rate of change outside and we are going to change this bank very soon,” he said, adding that that they wanted to automate systems to facilitate loans and open accounts speedily.
A change in the outlook altogether, Mr Abeywickrama said depended on the government sector changing to embrace private sector structures. “We must change,” he said, adding that young corporate executives have shown reluctance to bank with BOC.
He also brought in his military experience and the need to have discipline to be successful in any institution during question time implying that there could be military-like regimentation in the BOC. Changes would be brought in on BOC attitudes and concepts and its affairs would be developed on the lines what the customer needs.
Mr. Abeywickrama said that the BOC was helping the government during crisis situations and the Treasury has mostly settled their loans. He said “Even SriLankan Airlines does not have any debt with the BOC.” He said that the government has absorbed them and their balance sheets are ok. State sector lending, he said, is done on profit and is a lucrative business.
One journalist pointed out that when the sovereign guarantee gets enacted it is actually written off and queried whether BOC is on a level playing fieldbecause the bank for the last 75 years enjoyed state patronage.
In reasoning out their stand on the level playing field, Mr. Abeywickrama said that they do business with the Government on profitable basis as any other bank does. He said that there is a myth that state banks raise money when the government says, but that is not true. “This bank does not run like that. We do not give loans like that,” he added.
BOC General Manager D.M. Gunasekera said that efficiency was important to operations. He said that they were competing with other banks and added, “You cannot say that we are having undue support from the government.”