Bank of Ceylon’s future role in London

This was the third recent relocation for Bank of Ceylon’s London Branch. As one of the oldest banks in the heart of London, since 1949, this institution, until very recently, was placed in a prestigious location in the City of London, at No.1 Aldermanbury Square, London EC2, nestled among the world’s reputed banking institutions. The Aldermanbury Square building had been acquired by Bank of Ceylon, on a long lease, for £80,000, in the open market. This building had requisite office and storage accommodation, a spacious basement, a huge vault, and cost of the lease was only £4450 a year ( @ £1.43 per sq. ft) .

Whether it is a banker, an accountant or even an economist, at times human error is inevitable. Perhaps, it may be the reason why the then Chief Manager decided to sell this building when the Bank enjoyed a ‘negligible’ rent and 14 years of unexpired lease which was open till the year 2001. When the other occupants in this four storey building moved out, The Bank of Ceylon was in a unique position to seize the opportunity of buying the lease, under Section 30 of the Landlord-Tenant Act 1954 ( revised many times), by virtue of being the only sitting tenant on a long lease. Instead, the Bank decided to dispose of the building for £750,000. On surface, however, it appeared to the Colombo Management that the London Branch was making a substantial profit! [ having bought for £80,000 and selling at £750,000]. Sri Lankan professionals in London with a through knowledge on finance and property market were of the view at the time that the commercial value of the remaining lease of Aldermanbury Square building was well above £1.5 million. Therefore, what the Bank of Ceylon lost a few years ago, due to a short-sighted policy adopted allegedly by one of its Chief Managers, has today become the gain for The Standard Chartered Bank ; what was not thought to be suitable for Bank of Ceylon then has today become Headquarters of Standard Chartered Bank in London!

Having made a profit by selling the remaining portion of the lease of No1. Aldermanbury Square building, another building was found at 22-24 City Road in London EC4, by the same Chief Manager at a cost of £2.1 million, on a 236 year lease with a rack rental of 30 percent on the new building which amounted to a minimum payment of £90,000 per annum to the owner of the Freehold .

As the controversy grew & serious discussions took place within the walls of Bank of Ceylon Board Room in Colombo, over the 30% rack rental on the new Bank of Ceylon building, it become a growing cancer on Bank’s finances. Soon an alternative had to be found. By this time the architect of this catastrophe (The Chief Manager) threw the towel in and retired from Bank’s service. To compensate for his ‘recognised service’ to the Bank of Ceylon, he managed to take home ( legally) with him an official Bank of Ceylon motor car valued at approximately two million Rupees ; got eight more years added on to his service to inflate his monthly pension payments. Reliable Bank sources have confirmed that in August 1995, this outgoing senior officer’s monthly pension cheque was well over Rs.24,000 ! In the meanwhile, one of his successors to London, another Chief Manager, had to pick up the pieces and rebuild the Bank of Ceylon’s jig-saw once again.

To his credit, many say, he achieved targets by making the Forex Unit ( Foreign Exchange) perform ‘miracles’ and also negotiated the purchase of the new five storey building under £1million. But to his dismay and amazement, at this inaugural ceremony of the new building, instead of recognising and giving the due credit for his untiring efforts ‘to save the skin’ of Bank of Ceylon in finding a new building he was completely ignored at the most auspicious moment of lighting the traditional oil lamp with such pomp and glory in the presence of the GM and DGM who arrived in London all the way for the ceremony. Many who were present at the scene wondered whether it was due to the Bank of Ceylon’s public relations strategy, or the way BOC says ‘Thank you’, or was it because this Chief Manager was promoted to Deputy General Manager status and sent back to Colombo, or simply because, in the presence of the GM and DGM of Bank of Ceylon others were insignificant numbers !

Another significant occurrence for Bank of Ceylon in London was the opening of a sub-branch at 22 Regent Street (The Ceylon Tea Centre Building now known as the Sri Lanka Trade Centre) by Mr. S. K. Wickremesinghe, The High Commissioner in the UK. According to the outgoing General Manager " The Bank of Ceylon is playing a major role in Sri Lankan business in the UK, and with two wings of its London Branch, it is fully equipped to provide assistance to the Lankan business community in the UK".

The second function of the Bank of Ceylon took place in the morning of 22 January at the Sri Lanka Trade Centre where a good cross section of Sri Lankan expatriate business community participated. Bank of Ceylon’s celebrations reached a climax in the evening of 22 nd January at the Churchill Inter-Continental Hotel, Portman Square, Marble Arch, with a grand dinner to an exclusive crowd which included British Parliamentarians & Bank of England officials etc., to mark the opening of the Regent Street Sub-Branch and the re-location of Bank of Ceylon’s main branch to No.1 Devonshire Square, London EC2.

Whether it is Isaac Newton and the Law of Gravity or outgoing General Manager and her associated performance, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In that context it was not unusual for one section of the Sri Lankan community to appreciate the good works of the Bank, while sceptics were quick to question whether Bank of Ceylon, being such an insignificant institution in London, could justify the enormous amount of money spent on three celebrations, especially by throwing a grand dinner at a five star hotel for around 75 people, costing at least £50( Rs.4100) per head. Comments came from various Sri Lankan quarters at the time to say that, it would have been more productive if such moneys were contributed to the Defence Fund which could have been put to better use; or in the least, if an open invitation had been extended to all good-wishing Sri Lankans to attend the ceremony and offered them a piece of Kiribath and a cup of tea and made them open accounts, at both branches, giving the first few hundred customers an incentive of £5 to open such an account !

Few months later tremendous undercurrents and tidal waves started forming at the bank of Ceylon Tower in Colombo after the official retirement of the General Manager. One such sensitive issue which tried to force the seams of the cylindrical walls of the tower was about the upgrading of the Chief Manager’s position in London to Deputy General Manager status, under the very nose of the new General Manager.

According to ‘ The Independent Arm of Bank of Ceylon’ at New Head Office, Colombo1, a 55 year old Deputy General Manager’s posting to newly upgraded post in London Branch had upset the hornet’s nest. What’s more, the sudden decision to call back the Chief Manager who was in London, only after completing one year of his tour of duty was seen as a carefully manipulated exercise. Finally ‘ The Independent Arm of Bank of Ceylon’ wrote to the Department of Employment in London complaining about the unfairness and injustice metered out to the Chief Manager who was given marching orders from London. In their letter to British Authorities, The IABC requested that the British authorities should only entertain communication from the present General Manager and not from her subordinates with regard to the new work permit for the newly appointed DGM. However, Bank authorities have thought it fit that the present posting to London should be upgraded to Deputy General Manager status and spend few more pound sterling out of the tax payers money .

It is said that the Chief Manager has been called back to Colombo mercilessly, and a vibrant and very senior Deputy General Manager, who is about to retire, with bags of banking experience has taken the reins of running two branches of Bank of Ceylon and manage a third building, to generate income with a magic wand to meet the Bank’s London Branches financial commitments.

Whatever criticisms may have been levelled against The Bank of Ceylon, today this Sri Lankan Institution in London is in a unique position to woo many new Sri Lankan customers by being a powerful magnet among the expatriate community, particularly the entrepreneurial stock. As much as Bank of Ceylon’s impressive buildings and posh offices, at most prestigious locations in London and the cream of its Management staff, the time is ripe for the national bank to move with the times in London, in public relations, performances and by cutting down on bureaucratic red tape to a minimum, if the Bank’s intention is to compete with numerous other high street banks, which are in every street corner in London. This argument could be justified by comparing with other foreign national banks such as Bank of Baroda, Habib Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank, State Bank of India etc., where they attempt to maximise their operations within their communities by upgrading themselves to almost the same standards of other commercial banks in the UK, in both equipment wise as well as services they offer to their customers.