Sri Lanka · Financial institution
Bank of Ceylon
Bank of Ceylon is a state-owned banking corporation with its head office in Colombo. It was incorporated on 1 August 1939 under the Bank of Ceylon Ordinance No. 53 of 1938. It is a licensed commercial bank under the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988 and is supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It offers retail, SME, corporate, treasury and international banking and provides financing to the government and state-owned enterprises. Outside Sri Lanka it has branches in Chennai, the Maldives and the Seychelles, and a London subsidiary, Bank of Ceylon (UK) Ltd.
Licences and registrations
Matched by LEI on the 22 tracked registers
None matched by LEI in the 22 tracked registers.
- The tracked registers cover payment, e-money, crypto and money-service firms in 37 countries. Bank licences from national supervisors are not tracked.
Swift network
Swift’s ISO 9362 BIC directory
- BIC
- BCEYLKLXXXX head office
- Connection to Swift
- Connected to SwiftThis BIC is registered as a live address on the Swift network. The institution sends and receives Swift messages under BCEYLKLX directly.
- Swift GPI
- Live member
- Payment schemes and systems
- No entry in the EPC registers, the ECB T2 and TIPS lists or the SIX Bank Master cites this BIC
- Branch codes
- 7 branch codes
- BIC first registered
- 1994-06-06
- Last updated
- 2025-09-29
Overview
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
Total assets
Not published
Employees
Not published
Ownership
State-owned
Government of Sri Lanka
Institution type
Commercial bank
Trades as BOC
- Ownership
- The bank is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and describes itself as a State entity.
- Direct parent
- Government of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
- Head office
- No. 1, BOC Square, Bank of Ceylon Mawatha, Colombo 01, Sri Lanka
- Name in the local language
- ලංකා බැංකුව
Business lines
Besides lending to households, SMEs and companies, the bank finances the government and state-owned enterprises and facilitates essential imports such as fuel and pharmaceuticals. Its Investment Banking Division acts as registrar to its own debenture issues.
Online
- Websites & references
- boc.lk ↗ did not load when checked
online.boc.lk ↗ online banking portal
fxrates.boc.lk ↗ subdomain hosting the HTML version of the annual report
Wikipedia ↗ - Official social accounts
- None found
Sources · 12 pages consulted
- fxrates.boc.lk/2024Report/pages/cat-8/p-432.html
- boc.lk/index.php/corporate-profile/board-of-directors/mr-y-a-jayathilaka
- boc.lk/corporate-profile
- boc.lk/about
- boc.lk/contact
- boc.lk/news/articles/bank-of-ceylon-appoints-ya-jayathilaka-as-acting-general-managerceo
- boc.lk/news/articles/kavinda-de-zoysa-appointed-as-chairman-of-bank-of-ceylon
- boc.lk/international-banking/correspondent-relationships/correspondent-relationships/standard-se
- ft.lk/front-page/CBSL-approves-BOC-GM-CEO-appointment/44-789136
- ft.lk/front-page/BOC-posts-Rs-62-7-b-1H-PBT-strengthening-contributions-to-economy/44-796056
- bankofceylon.co.uk/our-team/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Ceylon
Leadership
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Chief executive
- Y. A. Jayathilaka General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
- Chair
-
Kavinda de Zoysa
Chairman/Non-Executive Director
Supervisors & regulators
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Sri Lanka
- Central Bank of Sri Lanka Central bankPrudential supervisorAML supervisorResolutionForeign exchange
Recent events
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
-
Leadership
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka approved Y. A. Jayathilaka as General Manager/CEO from 27 February 2026, ending his acting appointment.
ft.lk ↗ -
Leadership
The bank appointed Y. A. Jayathilaka acting General Manager/CEO from 6 August 2025 after W. P. Russel Fonseka retired.
boc.lk ↗ -
Leadership
The government appointed Kavinda de Zoysa, formerly Country Business Head of Citibank N.A. Sri Lanka, as chairman of the bank.
boc.lk ↗
Compliance-relevant events of the last three years, newest first: fines and enforcement, investigations, incidents, leadership changes, mergers and licence changes. Each links to its source.
Identifiers
Head-office record
- BIC
- BCEYLKLXXXX
- How the BIC breaks down
- BCEYBank
- LKCountry · Sri Lanka
- LXLocation
- XXXBranch · head office
- Branch description
- Not recorded in the directory
- LEI
- 254900QP6R03LS83RQ52
- LEI record
- View on GLEIF ↗
- How the LEI was matched
- BIC: Mapped to this BIC in the Swift and GLEIF BIC-to-LEI relationship file.
Profile
- Type
- Financial institutionClassified as a financial institution in Swift’s ISO 9362 BIC directory, with no licence on a tracked register. This includes banks that neither the ECB nor the FSB lists, as well as brokers, fund managers, insurers and market infrastructure.
- Regulation
- Not on a tracked registerNo licence or registration was found for this entity on the registers the directory tracks, or on the ECB and FSB bank lists. Most banks are licensed by national supervisors whose registers are not tracked yet. This does not mean that the institution is unregulated.
- Register licences
- None matched by LEI in the 22 tracked registersThe tracked registers cover payment, e-money, crypto and money-service firms in 37 countries. Bank licences from national supervisors are not tracked.
- Country · region
- Sri Lanka · South Asia
- Trading venues (MIC)
- No MIC registered under this LEI list of 2026-09-17
- OFAC sanctions
- No listing cites this BIC
- EU sanctions
- No listing matched this BIC or its LEI
- Country sanctions
- No country programme
Types come from Swift’s BIC classification, the licences on the 22 tracked registers, and the ECB and FSB bank lists. Most banks outside the euro area appear as financial institutions, because their supervisors’ registers are not tracked yet.
No licence or registration was found for this entity on the 22 registers the directory tracks, or on the ECB and FSB bank lists. Most banks are licensed by national supervisors whose registers are not tracked yet. This does not mean that the institution is unregulated.
Ownership and group
GLEIF relationship records
The Bank of Ceylon group has 5 institutions in the directory, in 5 countries: all hold a BIC.
Including Bank of Ceylon UK Limited.
See the Bank of Ceylon group →Group membership follows the accounting-consolidation relationships reported to GLEIF. It does not show ownership shares or control.
Addresses
- Registered address
- HEAD OFFICE BUILDING 1 BANK OF CEYLON SQUARE, FL. 8 COLOMBO, MAWATHA 1 SRI LANKA
- Operational address
- HEAD OFFICE BUILDING FLOOR 8 1 BANK OF CEYLON MAWATHA COLOMBO 1 COLOMBO SRI LANKA
ISO 20022 identification
As an agent in a Swift cross-border payment message (CBPR+)
A CBPR+ message identifies this institution by its BIC, and may add its LEI or a clearing code. CBPR+ does not allow a name and postal address next to a BIC.
- Identified by
- BIC, with its LEI
- Roles in CBPR+
- Any agent, including the instructing and instructed agents
CBPR+
For cross-border payments on Swift: the BIC, with the LEI and clearing code where known
<FinInstnId>
<BICFI>BCEYLKLXXXX</BICFI>
<LEI>254900QP6R03LS83RQ52</LEI>
</FinInstnId>Full record
Every ISO 20022 element the directory holds. Base ISO 20022 allows them together. CBPR+ does not allow a name and address next to a BIC
<FinInstnId>
<BICFI>BCEYLKLXXXX</BICFI>
<LEI>254900QP6R03LS83RQ52</LEI>
<Nm>BANK OF CEYLON</Nm>
<PstlAdr>
<TwnNm>COLOMBO</TwnNm>
<Ctry>LK</Ctry>
<AdrLine>HEAD OFFICE BUILDING 1 BANK OF CEYLON SQUARE, FL. 8 COLOMBO, MAWATHA 1</AdrLine>
</PstlAdr>
</FinInstnId>The BIC, name and address are as published in Swift’s BIC directory. The LEI comes from the Swift and GLEIF BIC-to-LEI file. Check them against your own records before use.
Network
Branches and correspondent banking
All 7 branch BICs connect to the head office. No city, function or registration year splits them into groups. 3 other banks publish 3 accounts held with this bank.
- Own offices
- Respondent banks: they hold accounts here
Hover over a branch, account or group to see its details
Respondent banks
From the correspondent lists other banks publish
3 other banks publish 3 accounts held with this bank.
| Currency | Respondent bank | Held at | Account | Purpose | Published in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LKR | Doha Bank Qatar | BCEYLKLX | 1431876 | — | dohabank.com.qa ↗ dated Jul 2026 |
| LKR | Mashreqbank Psc. United Arab Emirates | BCEYLKLXXXX | — | standard settlement instruction | mashreq.com ↗ |
| — | Union Bank of India India | BCEYLKLX | 1977938 | Asian Clearing Union dollar (ACUD) account as published | unionbankofindia.bank.in ↗ dated 15 May 2025 |
Each row is an account the respondent bank lists as held with this bank, as published. Only banks that publish their correspondent accounts, and that Elucidate has researched, can appear, so the list is not complete. Confirm settlement instructions with either bank before relying on them.
Branch codes
| BIC | Branch | City | Address | LEI | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BCEYLKLX002 | SUPER GRADE BRANCH | Kandy | CEYBANK HOUSE 88 DALADA VIDIYA KANDY KANDY SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLX004 | BANK OF CEYLON PETTAH BRANCH | Pettah | 212/63 GASWORK PETTAH PETTAH SRI | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLX125 | NON RESIDENT FOREIGN CURRENCY UNIT | Colombo | 61 HOSPITAL LANE COLOMBO COLOMBO POB 1224 SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLX131 | FOREIGN CURRENCY BANKING UNIT | Colombo | N.H.O.B. FLOOR 7 4 BANK OF CEYLON MAWATA COLOMBO COLOMBO POB 241 SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLX573 | CENTRAL BUS STAND BRANCH | Colombo | CENTRAL BUS STAND 16, 2/3 FLOOR 2 PETTAH COLOMBO 11 COLOMBO SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLX618 | METROPOLITAN BRANCH | Colombo | 61 HOSPITAL LANE COLOMBO 1 COLOMBO SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
| BCEYLKLXPRI | PRIMARY DEALER UNIT BACK OFFICE | Colombo | BANK OF CEYLON MAWATHA FLOOR 8 COLOMBO COLOMBO SRI LANKA | — | 2025-09-29 |
Claim this profile
Work at Bank of Ceylon?
Claim this page to have it marked as verified by the bank, and to send us corrections. We verify every claim before anything changes on the page.
- 01Submit Tell us who you are, using your work email.
- 02We verify We check the email domain and confirm your role with the bank. This usually takes up to five business days.
- 03Profile claimed The page is marked as claimed and verified. You can send us corrections at any time.
Claim received
Thank you. We will email your work address once the claim is verified. Until then, the page stays unclaimed.
The claim was not sent. Try again, or email contact@elucidate.co.
Sources & method
Every value comes from a public source, such as Swift’s ISO 9362 BIC directory, GLEIF or the OFAC and EU sanctions lists. Most sources are matched on a BIC or an LEI, not on a name.
Swift GPI membership is matched on names and is indicative. A missing sanctions match does not mean that no listing applies. Always screen against the official lists.
The sanctions facts on this page cover the BIC and its LEI only.
An institution is one entry in the directory: a BIC8 in Swift’s directory, or a firm on a tracked register that holds no BIC. Licences held by an institution with a BIC are shown on its page.
Read the methodology →Credits for this page
- Ownership and group—GLEIF Level 2 relationship records (accounting consolidation), matched by LEI.
- Overview, leadership, regulators and events—researched per institution by an AI model with web search, from the institution's own website and reports, regulators, company registers and news. Figures, people and events link to their source, and each card shows the research date. AI research can be wrong or out of date, so check key facts at the source.
- Images—logos and photos from Wikimedia Commons (credited with their author and licence) or from the institution's own website, where Wikimedia has none. Elucidate keeps a copy of each; the links lead to the source and the original image. Logo: boc.lk (official website) · original; Kavinda de Zoysa: boc.lk (official website) · original.
Assess the financial crime risk behind a BIC
A BIC identifies an institution; it does not assess it. The Elucidate FinCrime Index (EFI) is an independent score of the financial crime risk of banks, built for correspondent banking and counterparty due diligence.
Book a demo