Business News Update: The 55th Annual Report Awards Ceremony organized by Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka once again recognized Bank of Ceylon for the Albert A Page Memorial Award as it was adjudged for the Gold Award winner in the State Bank Category for its 2018 Annual Report “The Icon of Trust”.
Moreover, it is the fourth time this year that the “The Icon of Trust” Annual Report has been accorded recognition. A few days back the BOC Annual Report 2018, was recognized as the 1st Runner up at the South Asia Federation of Accountants Best Presented Annual Report Awards 2018 held in Bangladesh.
Prior it was also adjudged for a Gold award at the ARC Awards Competition for financial Data in Banks-International category and the Bronze award for the Non –traditional Annual Reports at the same category.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recognizes organizations that have promoted transparency, accountability and social responsibility in financial reporting in par with international standards, through this award ceremony.
CA Sri Lanka has formulated its judging criteria this year as well to select the most cohesive, clear and customized annual reports that best reflect an entity operation whilst going beyond its statutory boundaries of reporting financial performance while promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance. The prime objective was to encourage the effective presentation of financial and non-financial information to stakeholders through the fulfillment of compliance with legislative requirements and generally accepted accounting practices.
“Being a responsible services-provider for its customers, whose integrity has been maintained at the highest level in the span of the last 80 years, the Bank has evolved to deliver a service that goes beyond mere banking to its community. Bank of Ceylon makes an effort to communicate its financial and nonfinancial information in a holistic manner to represent the true nature of the bank’s performance.
With that BOC ensures that its Annual Report complies with the standards set by regulatory bodies and international reporting guidelines such as the International Integrated Reporting (IIR) framework which was issued by the International Integrated Reporting Council and GRI standards guidelines issued by the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) for sustainability reporting” stated the CEO/ General Manager Mr.Senarath Bandara.
Adoption of the revised Code of Best Practice on Corporate Governance 2017 issued by CA Sri Lanka, widening the coverage of material topics beyond those prescribed by GRI to include entity and industry-specific topics, adopting the new format issued by CBSL in presenting financial statements, compliance to SLFRS 09 and a refined structure to facilitate readability are the key improvements in the BOC Annual Report 2018.
Leading the Sri Lankan Banking industry with over 80 years of experience, the Bank of Ceylon has become the most stable and the trusted bank in the country that serves Sri Lankans from all walks of life helping them to build their lives and making themselves financially stable whilst uplifting the country’s economy. The Bank earned global recognition as one of the top 1000 banks in the world, with the country rank in No.1 as listed by “The Banker Magazine” (UK).
Brand Finance Lanka in partnership with Media Services (Pvt) Ltd has ranked Bank of Ceylon as the country’s No. 1 banking brand in 2019 with a total brand value of Rs. 51. 8 billion. Also, during the year the outstanding performance of the Bank drawn across its triple bottom line was recognized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce which adjudged the Bank as being announced the Top Ten Corporate Citizens in the Country and by the International Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka (ICCSL) together with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka by announcing the Bank as one of the Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka in 2019.
The Bank has passed exceptional milestones in recent years such as becoming the first to gain over Rs. 2 Trillion assets, over Rs. 1.8 Trillion Deposits and over Rs. 1.4 Trillion loans and advances that strengthen the Bank’s balance sheet with a triplet of “Trillion” components. Focusing on the Banks achievement, Fitch Rating Lanka ranked the Bank of Ceylon at AA+(lka) which is the highest rating awarded to a local commercial bank.
Also, during the year the Bank expanded its Digi Center concept by adding up three new Digi centers in World Trade Center Colombo, Orion City and another in Marino Mall Colombo to its first Digi center in Kandy City Centre. Also, going further in its digital transformative journey, the Bank launched its QR based payment app “Smart Pay” recently, allowing its customers to pay simple and structured merchants both by just scanning a QR code via the Smart Pay app. The Bank of Ceylon currently maintains a network of over 1,700 customer touch points locally and an international branch network comprised of four overseas branches in Chennai, Male, Hulu Male and Seychelles and a subsidiary in London.
Photo Caption:
The Bank of Ceylon Chief Executive Officer/ General Manager Mr. Senarath Bandara holding the Gold award received for the winner at the state bank category at the CA Sri Lanka’s 55th Annual Report Awards Ceremony . The Chief Financial Officer/ Senior Deputy General Manager Mr. Russell Fonseka has the certificate presented for the same. (Left to Right) The Bank of Ceylon’s Ms.Ama Wickramarachchi, Mr.Upendra Wijesuriya, Assistant General Manager Budget, Strategic Planning and MIS Mr.Ruwan Kumara and Senior Manager Ms.R A R Priyadarshani are also in the picture.
