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| Thursday, 31 July 2003 |
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BoC targets over Rs 2b profit before tax by Channa Kasturisinghe The Bank of Ceylon (BoC) is targeting to achieve over two billion rupees profit before tax by the end of the financial year which would be an increase of approximately 40 percent compared to the previous year, BoC General Manager S.N.P.Palihena said. He said the Bank's performance during the first half of the year has been far better than the corresponding period last year and he is confident of improved performance during the latter part of the year. Palihena was addressing the media on the Bank's arrangements to celebrate its 64th anniversary on August 1. Palihena said the Bank's director board and the corporate management have embarked on developing a strategic plan for the next five years of the BoC to enable it to withstand the aggressive competition from local and foreign banks. "We have realised the need to revitalise the Bank and will take several initiatives to improve the institution, both in terms of profits and its service offered to the public. Despite many opinions and fears expressed to the contrary by some segments of the staff that the Bank is not going to open new branches, we are happy to announce the opening of two branches in Narahenpita and Malabe this month to mark the 64th anniversary," Palihena said. He said the Bank is evaluating options to introduce a state-of-the-art software package to link all its branches within the next five years at an estimated cost of over five billion rupees. "We expect to introduce this technology to 100 branches initially and they would be linked to a network allowing `any-where banking'. We will launch this project this year. We have also obtained the service of MTI Consultants in re-launching the Bank with a different outlook. The peaceful environment in the country during the past one and a half years and the steady economic growth of 5.5 percent is heralding a new era of prosperity in the country and our intention is to position the BoC strategically to reap the maximum benefits of this environment," Palihena said. Assistant General Manager, (Business Development) Nimal E.Peiris said the BoC which started operations in 1939 has today become the largest commercial bank in Sri Lanka with a network of 293 branches and over 9,000 staff. The nationalisation of the Bank in 1961 accelerated its expansion into the provinces which enabled it to play a vital role in national development focusing on agriculture and small and medium enterprise sectors. "The bank accounts for 23 percent of the deposits and 24 percent of total lending among the country's other commercial banks. The number of accounts in the BoC exceeds five million," Peiris said. |
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