The Bank of Ceylon (BOC) was founded in 1939, with Sir Ernest de Silva as its first president. Bank of Ceylon is a state-owned, major commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Its head office is located in the capital Colombo. The bank was formally opened on 1 August by the then Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott. The British government introduced a banking branch to its government-oriented businesses. Two years later, in 1941, the BoC began expanding beyond the city of Colombo. He opened his first branch in Kandy. Subsequently, BOC added branches in major cities such as Galle, Jaffna, Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Badulla and Panadura.
The bank has a network of 628 branches, 689 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), 123 CDM network and 15 regional credit centers in the country. It also has a round the clock call center and a round the clock branch at 0094 11 2204444 at its Colombo office.
Apart from the local presence, the bank maintains an off-shore banking unit at its head office in Colombo, three branches in Male, Chennai and Seychelles and a subsidiary in London.
In 1948, Ceylon gained its independence from the British. And then the monetary authorities were transferred to Sri Lanka. Central Bank of Sri Lanka was established in 1949
1949: BoC opens its first overseas branch in London, United Kingdom. This helps the bank and the government to handle the business between the two countries easily.
1953: Mr. Chelia Loganathan appointed as the first General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka.
1961: Commerce, Trade, Food and Shipping Minister T.B. Ilangaratne oversaw the nationalization of the bank. Until this year, the bank was operated as an individual organization and the Government of Sri Lanka went ahead and declared the bank a public organization and became a quasi-government institution.
1972: By the end of this period the bank’s branch network expanded to most of the rural areas of Sri Lanka.
1979: In protest against the government-controlled economy, the then government relaxed exchange control rules for some time by regulating it by the central bank and then by market demand. This liberalization of exchange control regulations prompted the bank to open its first foreign exchange unit to handle the growing demand for non-local currency requirements.
1981: BOC crosses another major milestone by opening another overseas branch, this one in Male, Maldives.
1982: BOC established the first merchant bank in Sri Lanka, named Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka.
1987: The bank moved to its 32-storey headquarters.
