OREANDA-NEWS. The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) is pleased to announce that BTMU has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday with Bank of Ceylon (BOC), the largest state-owned commercial bank in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka), with the purpose of developing closer cooperation in promoting a wide range of financial services between Sri Lanka and Japan.

Founded in 1939, BOC is the largest, 100% state-owned, commercial bank in Sri Lanka. It has the largest branch network of 571 (as of September 2014) and was ranked top by total assets in the country. Besides commercial banking, BOC also provides a broad range of financial services, including lease financing and credit card services to corporates and individuals.

In recent years, Sri Lanka economy has grown rapidly owing to strong reconstruction demand and expansion of its tourism industry. In addition, Sri Lanka has been accelerating its investment into infrastructure projects. With increasing political and social stability, foreign investors including Japanese corporations have been redirecting their focus to Sri Lanka as it offers high quality workforce, geographical advantages, and abundant tourism resources.

BTMU has also earlier inked a MOU with Board of Investment of Sri Lanka in August 2014 which aims to provide Japanese corporates with information on the business environment in Sri Lanka. This MOU with BOC will further strengthen BTMU's ability to serve these Japanese corporates investing into Sri Lanka.