The Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL), held its 15th Annual Convocation on October 20 at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The Chief Guest at the event was Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the Governer of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and the Guest of Honour was Mr. Fazeel Najeeb, the Governer and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of the Maldives. At the Convocation, two honorary fellowships were awarded to Mr. K.G.D.D Dheerasinghe, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Mr. W. Karunajeewa, Chairman of People's Bank, the most eminent personalities who contributed immensely to the banking and finance industry. These fellowships were awarded by Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

In addition, eight fellowships, 176 Associateships and 230 diplomas in Banking and Finance were awarded at the Convocation. Eighteen postgraduate diplomates also obtained their diplomas at the event. The IBSL has recognised eleven gold medalists and nine cash award winners, in terms of their outstanding performance at the examinations. Those medals and cash awards were also awarded at the Convocation.

The IBSL has eatablished 23 accredited centres in the island to conduct classes for students who aspire to follow the Certificate in Banking and Finance (CBF) and Dploma in Banking and Finance (DBF) of the IBSL. With a view to improving the services and the facilities provided to students by the accredited centres, a perfomance evaluation process has been carried out by the IBSL in which two centres JMC and IFB-Kandy have been selected as the Best Centre. In appreciation of the good services provided by them, the two centres were recognized at the Convocation by awarding a certificate. With this new move the IBSL is planning to take the Institute's activities to the rural sector to cater to the demands of the rural students in an effective manner.

The IBSL is one of the prominent educational institutes engaged in capacity building and training of the personnel in the Banking and Financial sector for more than 45 years. Having recognized its reputation, the neighbouring countries have requested the IBSL to share the experience and the expertise with them. Hence IBSL has opened its first international accredited centre in the Maldives in February this year.

The IBSL's contribution towards the Finance and Banking sector has been commendable as it has grown up immensely in its client base. This is a reflection of the professionalism and the high quality education delievered by the Institute. Having identified the future demand and the growing trend of the activities in the financial industry, the IBSL is now planning to expand its physical enviornment in order to provide better facilities to the students.

The IBSL has been affliated to the IFS UK for more than ten years and during that period IFS UK has provided a good service to upgrade the syllabi, the teaching methods and related processes of the examinations.

Since, IFS has been granted the degree awarding status (Univesrity status), by the Quality Assurance Authority of UK, they have now offered the IBSL to proceed for a Degree. In addition, IBSL is also planning to obtain University status locally by the end of 2011 to cater to the students who expect to obtain a degree locally in a speciallised area in Banking and Finance.