BoC to open exchange house in Italy

The Bank of Ceylon the premier public sector bank in Sri Lanka will open its own exchange house in Italy shortly. Deputy General Manager, International and Treasury H.M.A.B. Weerasekera said that all groundwork has been done and the bank is confident that we can have our own exchange house in Italy in the near future. In addition the bank is planning to open an exchange house in Canada and have representative officers in Korea and Japan.

H.M.A.B. Weerasekera

He said BOC declared 2009 as the year of inward remittance to promote inward remittances from Sri Lankan expatriates with an attractive gift scheme in addition to the bonus interest of 20% and most importantly the security of a State bank as well as a host of other benefits. He said that at present BOC gets inward remittances from people in over 100 countries mainly the Middle East, USA, UK and Europe, Canada, Italy and Korea.

As Sri Lanka’s leading public sector bank BOC handles over 50 per cent of the total foreign inward remittances.

He said that as a part of the ongoing drive to get more foreign currency remittances BOC has deployed its staff in key countries including the Middle East, Korea, Japan, and Italy.

‘In addition we have also joined hands with many overseas exchange houses banks and fund transfer companies by appointing representatives to tap the potential customers.’

Weerasekera said that money can be sent to Sri Lanka from any destination within 10 minutes via BOC’s e-cash money transfer system. These funds can be credited to a BOC account or collected from any one of our branches located islandwide. ‘A person need not be a BOC customer to enjoy this service and if the need arises we will even deliver the cash to their homes. In addition BOC customers who are expatriates can also enjoy loan facilities’ said Weerasekera.

‘In 2008 we handled Rs 160 billion worth of inward remittances while it was Rs 147 billion in 2007.

He said that if we move people away from the illegal Hawala system we can attract much more money annually.

(SG)