Bank of Ceylon

Bank of Ceylon
Type	Government-owned corporation
Industry	Finance
Founded	1939
Headquarters	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Area served	Sri Lanka Maldives India United Kingdom
Key people	Sir Ernest de Silva (Founder-Chairman)
Products	Banking, financial and related services
Website	www.boc.lk

Bank of Ceylon (als o popularly abbreviated as: BOC (read as bee-oo-see)) is a government-owned, major commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Its head office is located in iconic cylindrical building in the capital Colombo, the political and commercial capital of the island

Bank of Ceylon (BoC) was founded in 1939, with Sir Ernest de Silva as its first Chairman. At the time, Ceylon was a British colony and the then governor Sir Andrew Caldecott ceremoniously opened the bank on 1 August. The English government introduced the banking arm for its government oriented businesses. Two years later, in 1941, BoC started to expand beyond the city of Colombo. It opened its first branch in Kandy. Subsequently BoC added branches in major cities such as Galle, Jaffna, Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Badulla, and Panadura.