BoC campaign soon to combat terrorism financing

The Bank of Ceylon (BoC) will launch an anti-money laundering campaign islandwide to combat financing of terrorism through its branch network this month, said Chairman BoC Udayasiri Kariyawasam addressing the launch of the bank's 2006 Annual Report in Colombo on Tuesday.

He said the bank is collaborating with the Government's efforts to weaken the LTTE's terror funding and arms-purchasing activities across the globe.

The BoC will conduct awareness programs and provide training to its employees to block funding channels of the LTTE to unleash terrorism in the country, the Chairman said.

Kariyawasam said despite many challenges last year the performance of the bank was impressive and he was confident that it would achieve better results this year.

"We have to balance profits with our commitments to national development. If not for this constraint the bank's profits would have been even higher," he said.

BoC General Manager B. A. C. Fernando said the bank made huge investments in all its branches and achieved the largest online network.

The bank increased the number of profit-making branches from 37 in 2005 to 131 this year. The bank which operates 302 branches has 500 online service points.

Despite a challenging year ahead we have made satisfactory progress in our achievements in the first quarter of 2007 with a 35 percent revenue growth, Fernando said.

The bank's income increased 29 percent from Rs. 27.32 billion in 2005 to Rs. 35.19 billion in 2006 while pre tax profits increased by 46 percent from Rs. 4.03 billion in 2005 to Rs. 5.90 billion in 2006.

The Gamata Naya, Sookshama Naya, Govi Shakthi BoC computer Loan Scheme, BoC Educational Loan Scheme, Government Housing Loan Scheme and Tea Development Loan Scheme are some of the major loan schemes launched by the bank. The bank conducted a fund-raising project to build a home for street children. The investment for the project is around Rs. 2.5 billion.

The bank undertook to clean the Moneragala town recently as a corporate social responsibility towards the environment.

The BoC with an AA (lka) Fitch rating has an asset base of over Rs. 400 billion and a capital base of Rs. 18. billion. The bank has the highest single borrower exposure up to Rs. 7.3 billion and a customer base of 6.2 million accounts.

The bank plans to increase its foreign remittances and reduce the Non Performing Advances this year.

(LF)