Bank of Ceylon (BOC), the leading commercial bank in Sri Lanka and bankers to the nation, is proud to announce its recent achievement in winning the accolade as the best Sri Lankan Trade Bank at the Trade Finance Awards 2010. These prestigious awards are conducted annually by Trade Finance, the global magazine for exports and commodity finance.
This is the second consecutive year that BOC has succeeded in winning this title. Thus the bank has proved yet again the continuous trust that trade finance clients and global correspondent banks have placed in the bank over the years.
BOC was the first bank in Sri Lanka to commence Trade Finance activities to cater to Sri Lankans engaged in exports, imports and other international trade transactions.
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| Ms. W A Nalani, Actg. General Manager, Bank of Ceylon |
BOC adopts a holistic, integrated approach in managing trade finance clients, providing end-to-end trade solutions under "one-stop service" concept. In addition to the domestic market, the bank also provides trade finance solutions in overseas markets such as the Maldives, Chennai and London through the bank's branches, located in these countries.
The year 2009 was a very challenging one for all industries and economies throughout the globe, owing to the global financial crisis. The banking sector and BOC too had to face many challenges, albeit it did so successfully, in international trade activities during the year.
The civil war that had dragged on for three decades also saw its peak during the first half of 2009, before finally coming to an end. It was amidst such challenges, that the bank succeeded in winning this prestigious award. Giving her comments on the bank's achievement given such challenges, Ms. W.A. Nalani, Actg General Manager of BOC said, "Winning this award is a real encouragement for all of us at BOC.
I believe that it helps to further reinforce our experienced and hands-on specialized staff in the trade finance area to continue to strengthen relationships with clients. We cannot ignore the fact that we do foresee more challenges ahead of us, especially due to the current state of intensified competition amongst banks caused by a push towards fast economic development. However, we feel confident of our ability to face these challenges with the same passion and commitment and perform even better in the coming years."
"We, at BOC, consider the award of Best Sri Lankan Trade Bank which was bestowed upon us as a great recognition and honour not only for our bank, but also for our valuable clientele and our global correspondent banks. We are thankful to the Trade Finance Magazine for the award bestowed on us," she added.
About Bank of Ceylon
BOC has been in the industry for over 71 years, and has reached greater heights as the leading commercial bank in Sri Lanka with a vision of being the bankers to the nation. BOC has been rated as AA(lka), and as having a stable outlook by Fitch Ratings Lanka.
Out of all commercial banks in Sri Lanka, BOC leads the industry as the systemically important bank with a market share of over 40% in the industry. BOC is the leader in treasury operations with over 50% share of the foreign exchange market in Sri Lanka. It also holds over 40% market share in foreign remittances to Sri Lanka. BOC's offshore banking operations hold the highest market share in terms of assets, over 35%.
The bank possess the largest delivery network throughout the island, with 826 service points, out of which 798 are connected online. It facilitates a customer base of over 8 million customers. The bank aspires to be a next generation bank through technology advancement and by providing wider access to people.
Trade Finance at BOC
In the Trade Finance area, BOC holds a market share of over 50% in Sri Lankan international trade, import/export business. It caters to all categories of importers/exporters in both the retail and the corporate segments in diverse fields in the economy.
The bank's main strength in trade finance is the experience and exposure gained by the staff by serving a large and diversified clientele. The bank provides structured, tailor-made solutions with proper advisory services. Directly working with corporate clients also provides the bank with opportunities for cross selling of even personal banking products.
Speaking of the future of trade finance transactions, Ms. W.A. Nalani gave her views, saying, "International trade transactions are expected to grow significantly especially with the onset of peace in the country. The nation is poised and ready for a big 'take-off. Therefore we expect a significant growth in the import/export markets. The recent positive changes in the recovery of the global scenario also heralds many banking opportunities in this environment."
With the intention of providing better services, BOC has implemented a highly advanced IT package for imports under 'Bank trade', in which all operations are centralized, and 'Client trade', a web based software package which provides remote access to customers to engage in trade finance activities online. 'Bank trade' supports a wide range of trade finance functionalities including documentary credit, standby credit, collections, bonds, guarantees, shipping guarantees, loans and advances, bank to bank reimbursements as well as online SWIFT transactions. 'Client trade' enables customers to easily function from their offices: services offered include transmitting letters of credit through the internet, enabling clients to view their outstanding balances under all the products and service categories. BoC also provides entrepot trade activities.
By using these facilities, clients are able to fast track the clearance processes of imported goods in a cost effective manner. Furthermore, BOC's highly skilled experts in this field provide advisory services to clients (and non-clients) in international trade transactions.
BOC continuously trains its pool of highly qualified and experienced staff to provide more efficient comprehensive services in order to delight its customers, build strong relationships. BoC's advanced technology systems in Bank Trade is facilitating speedy online delivery of export letters of credit, adding confirmations to letters of credit and letters of credit transfers. Accommodations are made for funding in both domestic and foreign currency for pre and post shipment activities.
BOC's contribution to the economy
BOC continues to make major contributions to the economic growth of Sri Lanka. It provides support to local businesses, small and medium industries, the self employed as well as retail and corporate clients.
Sri Lanka is currently in the development phase. The government has launched programmes to support the 'take-off' in the economy. As the leading commercial bank in Sri Lanka, BOC sees brighter prospects in the growing economy and play a greater role in stimulating the economic activities in the country. BOC is well geared to cater to developing economic sectors such as the construction and tourism industry where many opportunities are available for Trade Finance activities, in particular and also other banking activities.
The bank sees a renewed demand for working capital, long term funding and liquidity management products from the market. Recently, the bank also established an Islamic Banking Unit and an Investment Banking Unit with a view to providing a more diversified range of financial services.
Even in the Northern and Eastern provinces, with the restoration of peace, BOC has expanded activities by opening many extension offices in order to upgrade and enhance the livelihood of people in the affected areas.
It can be observed that in Sri Lanka, a new generation is emerging - those who have started off as small businesses have progressed and stretched their wings to reach medium sized and corporate levels. As a state owned commercial bank, BOC has understood and taken seriously what it views as its prime responsibility - to extend its hands towards the growth of all these sectors and support them for further growth and development.
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