The Bank of Ceylon will reach the golden landmark of Rs 3 trillion deposits soon making it the only single entity in Sri Lanka.
Bank of Ceylon Chairman Kanchana Ratwatte said that they entered the year 2020 as the undisputed market leader with great hope and enthusiasm. “However with the pandemic that engulfed the entire globe we had to change gear and focus, as the unfolding situation compelled us to innovate fresh strategies to face the situation.”
“However, we have not had any major hiccups and as our asset base, loan book, foreign remittances all increased while Bank profits though lower than 2019 were at a satisfactory level when compared to some other institutions locally and globally.”
Despite the challenging situation in the country, the Bank is moving forward with stable performance and reported a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 16.6 billion and Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 11.7 billion, for the nine months ending September 30, 2020.
The total income of the Bank for the period was Rs. 181.8 billion with a marginal increase of 2% YoY. The non-fund-based income for the period amounted to Rs. 12.9 billion showing an increase of Rs.1.7 billion YoY, and an exchange gain of Rs. 3.6 billion, which contributed to this growth. The Bank’s assets base grew by 17% to Rs. 2.8 trillion, backed by an increase of 25% in the loan book.
To date, the Bank has disbursed more than Rs. 39 billion under the “Saubagya COVID-19 Renaissance Facility” by extending working capital to COVID-19 affected businesses.
Further, the bank disbursed Rs. 128 billion for development and agriculture sector including credit facilities under BOC Divi Udana loans scheme.
The Bank’s loan book stood at Rs. 1.9 trillion and both governments and private sector lending contributed to growth, including lending to major infrastructure development projects starting even from Rs. 10, 000.
He also said that as a responsible bank they created a ‘revival action unit’ to assist enterprises who were in financial distress and advised them on how to kick start their business rather than making immediate recoveries from them.
In addition to the latest Rs. 10 billion AT1 Bond issue on December 1, 2020, the Bank successfully executed issuance of its first Additional Tier 1 (AT1) Bond of Rs. 5 billion during July 2020.
“With tourism opening up and COVId-19 vaccine on the cards sooner than expected the 2021 year would be a year of consolidation,” he said.
Adapting to the new normal, the Bank increased its focus on digital service channels, with customers showing a notable shift from physical banking to digital banking channels, marked by an increase in online transactions through B-app, Smart Pay and Online Banking during the recent latter part of the year.
