BoC to open branches in North and East

Surekha GALAGODA

Bank of Ceylon (BoC) the premier State bank in the country will open eight branches each in the North and the East provinces by the end of the year, said Chairman BoC Dr. Gamini Wickremasinghe. He said that at present there are 17 branches in each province. The bank in addition has installed nine ATMs in the North and seven ATMs in the East while five ATMs for each province will be added during the year to service the liberated areas as well. Mobile units of the bank visit the IDP camps daily to help the people carry out their banking work without a delay. In addition, plans are under way to open 10 branches each in the two provinces in 2010.

Dr. Gamini Wickremasinghe

Dr. Wickramasinghe said that the bank is recruiting 200 graduates as management trainees and 500 banking assistants. Speaking of the workforce he said that the bank has 8,000 on the permanent cadre and 2,000 as contract staff. According to estimates the bank will need 1,000 for the North and the East provinces alone.

Loans

He said that the bank will give loans for agriculture and animal husbandry, infrastructure development and capacity building in the North and the East provinces. The primary and secondary level education is very good in the N and the E. Therefore to establish tertiary education institutes and vocational training institutes and for students to pursue their studies we will give loans. Explaining the rationale for the two per cent rate cut for loans he said: “As a responsible bank we were compelled to look at reducing the interest rates in the aftermath of the CB reducing the interest rates as well as the reduction in inflation.

“We reduced a minimum of two per cent and wherever possible BoC will reduce the rates further, assured Dr. wickremasinghe.

He said for the present the rate cut will apply for new loans but gradually, we will adjust the books and implement it for the existing accounts as well.

The interest rate on housing loans for public servants will not be reduced while the rates on individual housing loans will be reduced by a minimum of two per cent.

He said under rate cut most sectors are eligible to take loans which include agriculture, fisheries,animal husbandry, local industries, small and medium industries as well. Exporters and persons engaged in the construction industry are also eligible.

Hard hit

He said that BoC is planning to reduce the rates further depending on the rate of the treasury bills. He said that people were reluctant to borrow due to the high rates of interest.

In any economic environment the big corporates will negotiate the rates at the time of obtaining the loans and it is the micro entrepreneurs who are hard hit as they are not in a position to negotiate the rates and have to be satisfied with the terms and conditions given by the bank.

BoC has named 2009 as the year of inward remittances. BoC brings 50 per cent of the remittances while the balance is brought to the country by the other banks. After the latest schemes were introduced, from London alone the bank gets US$ one million more.

It is not much but earlier we were not able to attract this money. The bank is doing its best to attract all the possible money to the country.

In response to a question he said that after the recent problems in the financial sector, people have started to deposit their money or open accounts for children with them. After the Golden Key fiasco there were many deposits that came in from finance companies and private banks. Dr. Wickremasinghe was confident that there will be a flow of funds for the North and the East after the war is over including the diaspora as well.