Bank of Ceylon wins 4 international awards for Annual Report 2013

Wednesday, 31 December 2014 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Bank of Ceylon Annual Report 2013 ‘Bank Beyond’ won four awards at two International events. Bank of Ceylon was the winner for Corporate Governance Disclosure 2013 in Public Sector Banking Institutions Category – South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). Also Bank won three Awards at the ARC International Awards:

Gold Winner for the Financial Data in Bank – International Sector. Silver Winner for Written Text in bank – International Sector. Silver Winner for Traditional Annual Report in Bank – International Sector. The bank’s 2013 Annual Report ‘Bank Beyond’ was themed after the bank’s 74-year journey in the Sri Lanka’s banking and financial sector. The bank ensures that its annual report complies with the standards set by regulatory bodies and international reporting guide lines such as International Integrated Reporting (IIR) framework issued by the International Integrated Reporting Council and G4 guidelines issued by the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) for sustainability reporting. “As the Bankers to the Nation for 75 years, we ensure that integrity and reputation are preserved to the highest standards within the organisation and that it is reflected in our Annual Report,” stated D.M. Gunasekara, General Manager Bank of Ceylon. South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) is an apex body of SAARC for improvement in transparency, accountability and governance. SAFA Awards recognises organisations in the region that achieved excellent standards in accordance with the framework stated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in preparation of financial statements. ARC International Awards is one of the most recognized global annual report awards schemes that aim at providing a platform for the highest standards in Annual Report industry. This year’s competition was intensified with over 2,000 entrants from 31 countries around the world. It was stated that only top 30% scoring annual reports were entitled to win an award at this competition. The Bank of Ceylon earned global recognition as one of the top 1000 banks in the world, as listed by The Banker Magazine (UK) respectively in 2012,2013 and 2014. The bank claimed its award as the only Sri Lankan brand recognised as one of Asia’s Best Brands in 2013 by the Chief Marketing Officer’s Council (CMO Council) based in Mumbai, India. Brand Finance Lanka ranked Bank of Ceylon as the No. 1 Brand in Sri Lanka for the last six consecutive years. The Bank of Ceylon recorded yet another hat-trick in 2013 at the National Business Excellence awards ceremony organised by the National Chamber of Commerce. The bank has achieved exceptional milestones in recent years by achieving rapid growth in recent years and currently holds over Rs. 1 trillion assets. Focusing on the bank’s achievement, Fitch Rating Lanka ranked the Bank of Ceylon at AA+(lka), which is the highest rating awarded to a local commercial bank. Bank of Ceylon is also the only Sri Lankan bank with an international presence, with branches in Chennai, Male, Seychelles and a subsidiary in London.