BOC launches newest fortune branch in Borella

BOC Chairman addressing the gathering at the ceremony

BOC Chairman, President’s Counsel Ronald C. Perera and BOC General Manager D.M. Gunasekara cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of newly transformed Borella branch while BOC Deputy General Manager Sales and Channel Management G.L.P. Jinasoma looks on

As a part of BOC’s transformation process the bank has transformed its fifth pilot fortune branch in Borella to offer customers the best banking experience. Bank of Ceylon Chairman, President’s counsel Ronald C. Perera opened the newly transformed branch in a ceremony held on Wednesday 15 July. The bank’s General Manager D.M. Gunasekara, Deputy General Manager Sales and Channel Management P.L.G. Jinasoma, other members of corporate and executive management were also present for the ceremony.

The bank has undertaken Project ‘Wenasa’ with Boston Consultancy Group (BCG), one of the leading business solutions providers in the world to reengineer the bank’s branches and processes to establish a smooth and delightful banking experience for customers.

The newly transformed branch compromises of several unique features that offer customers comforts of state-of-the-art banking. Customers can obtain all their banking services in one sitting through a single counter. With the ‘Queue Management System’ that is in operation customers would no longer have to stand in a queue but rather be seated comfortably for his/ her turn. Fully functional digital lobby ‘Smart Zone’ was set up to ensure all seven days with banking services around the clock. It consists of ATMs, Cash and Cheque deposit machines and internet banking kiosks.  

Each of the branches offer the bank’s newest product, ‘BOC SmartGen’. The new generation product is a passbook free account and provides customers free internet banking access, instant SMS alerts on transactions and monthly email statements. The product is the country’s first savings account which is fully active instantly. BOC SmartGen offers customers instant account opening, instant debit card issuance and instant access to internet banking. Additionally, customers who avail themselves of this product can enjoy universal banking at any BOC branch in the island as his photograph and signature will be captured digitally at the time of account opening. 

The Bank of Ceylon earned global recognition as one of the top 1,000 banks in the world, (Country rank No.1) 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 country’s No. 1 brand for the last seven consecutive years. The bank has passed exceptional milestones in recent years such as becoming the first to gain over Rs. 1.0 trillion assets. 

BOC has over 1,000 customer touch points covering all parts of Sri Lanka. 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 and ICRA (lk) awarded AAA rating which is the highest credit quality rating issued by ICRA Lanka. Bank of Ceylon maintains international presence with branches in Chennai, Male, Seychelles and a subsidiary in London.