Sri Lanka’s largest private bank goes green

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon said its environment-related initiatives had made steady progress in 2015 with the installation of solar power systems at four branches, the award of tenders for five more branch conversions, and the acquisition of 20 more paperless deposit machines.

Sri Lanka’s largest private bank said it is already generating 40kW of solar power for its branches at Balangoda, Borella, Narahenpita and Maharagama, and will increase this figure to 240kW when the installation of solar power systems at the Kollupitiya, City Office, Main Street, Gampaha and Nugegoda branches is complete.

“The harnessing of clean, renewable energy to reduce consumption of power from the national grid is one of several Green initiatives launched by the Bank as part of its obligations to the planet,” Commercial Bank Assistant General Manager Services Chinthaka Dharmasena said.  “The investments we are making to reduce the bank’s environmental footprint will benefit present and future generations, and generate savings over the long run,” he added. 

The bank invested Rs.10 million on the solar power installations at the first four branches converted, at an average of Rs.2.5 million per branch. 

Branches already identified for conversion require higher capacities ranging from 30kW to 60kW, the bank said. Solar power is used mainly for lighting and charging uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units.

At least five more branches operating in buildings owned by the bank are to receive solar power systems in 2016, under this programme.

Under its “Green Banking” programme, Commercial Bank has also invested a further Rs.36 million on 20 more units of a new generation automated cash deposit terminal that completely eliminates the use of paper. 

Dispensing with deposit slips and envelopes, the new machine has a stacker than can accept and count up to 200 notes at a go, enabling customers to make deposits of up to Rs.200,000 per deposit at a time into savings or current accounts, 24 hours of the day. The same machine may also be used to pay dues on Commercial Bank credit cards.

A significant reduction in the use of paper has also been achieved by the bank’s efforts to actively promote the migration of customers from traditional banking channels to digital platforms such as mobile and online banking.

These green initiatives are supplemented by programmes to reduce the bank’s carbon footprint through energy saving, energy optimisation and responsible fleet and vehicle management, responsible disposal and recycling of materials, responsible water consumption, the discontinuation of the use of products that emit ozone-depleting substances and  protecting the bio diversity in areas where its branches are present.