We have been engaged by the Directors of Bank of Ceylon (“the Bank”) to provide 

reasonable assurance and limited assurance in respect of the Sustainability Indicators as 

identified below for the year ended 31 December 2023. The Sustainability Indicators are 

included in the Bank of Ceylon Integrated Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 

2023 (the "Report").

The Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators covered by our reasonable assurance 

engagement are:

Assured Sustainability Indicators as per the 
statutory Financial Statements (Audited) for the 
Year ended 31 December 2023, dated 27 February 
2024 and the Audit report dated 28 February 2024 
thereon

Integrated Annual Report Page

Performance Highlights

12

The Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators covered by our limited assurance engagement 

are:

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators

Integrated Annual Report Page

Value Creation Highlights

13

Information provided on following
A Primary Partner for Our Customers

84 to 89

A Winning, Talented and Diverse Team

90 to 97

A Digitally Empowered Bank

98 to 102

A Beacon of Trust in Everything We Do

103 to 109

Our conclusions

Our conclusion has been formed on the basis of, and is subject to, the matters outlined in 

this report. We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to 

provide a basis for our conclusions.

Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators

In our opinion, in all material respects, the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability Indicators, 

as defined above, for the year ended 31 December 2023, in all material respects, has been 

prepared and presented by the management of Bank of Ceylon in accordance with the 

Consolidated Set of Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards Guidelines.

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators

Based on the evidence we obtained from the assurance procedures performed, as described 

below we are not aware of any material misstatements that causes us to believe that the 

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators, as defined above, for the year ended  

31 December 2023, have not in all material 

respects, been prepared and presented 

by the management of Bank of Ceylon in 

accordance with the Consolidated Set of 

Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability 

Reporting Standards Guidelines.

Management's Responsibility

Management is responsible for the 

preparation and presentation of the 

Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators and the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators in accordance with 

the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting 

Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards 

Guidelines.

These responsibilities include establishing 

such internal controls as management 

determines are necessary to enable the 

preparation of the Reasonable Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators and the Limited 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators that are 

free from material misstatement whether 

due to fraud or error.

Management is responsible for preventing 

and detecting fraud and for identifying and 

ensuring that the Bank complies with laws 

and regulations applicable to its activities.

Management is also responsible for ensuring 

that staff involved with the preparation and 

presentation of the description and Report 

are properly trained, information systems are 

properly updated and that any changes in 

reporting encompass all significant business 

units.

Our responsibility

Our responsibility is to express a 

reasonable assurance conclusion on the 

Bank’s preparation and presentation of 

the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators and a limited assurance 

INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE REPORT – SUSTAINABILITY

conclusion on the preparation and 

presentation of the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators included in the 

Report, as defined above.

We conducted our assurance engagement 

in accordance with Sri Lanka Standard on 

Assurance Engagements SLSAE 3000: 

Assurance Engagements other than Audits 

or Reviews of Historical Financial Information 

(SLSAE 3000) issued by the Institute of 

Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.

We have complied with the independence 

and other ethical requirements of the Code 

of Ethics for professional Accountants issued 

by CA Sri Lanka (Code of Ethics).

SLSAE 3000 requires that we plan and 

perform the engagement to obtain 

reasonable assurance about whether 

the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators are free from material 

misstatement and limited assurance about 

whether the Limited Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators are free from material 

misstatement.

Our firm applies Sri Lanka Standard on 

Quality Control (SLSQC) 1, which requires 

the firm to design, implement and operate 

a system of quality management including 

policies or procedures regarding compliance 

with ethical requirements, professional 

standards and applicable legal and 

regulatory requirements.

Reasonable assurance over Reasonable 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators

The procedures selected in our reasonable 

assurance engagement depend on our 

judgment, including the assessment of 

the risks of material misstatement of the 

Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators whether due to fraud or error.

In making those risk assessments, we 

have considered internal controls relevant 

to the preparation and presentation of 

the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators in order to design assurance 

procedures that are appropriate in the 

circumstances, but not for the purposes 

of expressing a conclusion as to the 

effectiveness of the Bank's internal controls 

over the preparation and presentation of the 

Report.

Our engagement also included assessing 

the appropriateness of the Reasonable 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators, 

the suitability of the criteria, being the 

Consolidated Set of Global Reporting 

Initiative Sustainability Reporting 

Standards Guidelines, used by the Bank in 

preparing and presenting the Reasonable 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators within 

the Report, obtaining an understanding 

of the compilation of the financial and 

non-financial information to the sources 

from which it was obtained, evaluating the 

reasonableness of estimates made by the 

Bank, and re-computation of the calculations 

of the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators.

Limited assurance on the Assured 

Sustainability Indicators

Our limited assurance engagement on the 

Limited Assurance Sustainability Indicators 

consisted of making enquiries, primarily 

of persons responsible for the preparation 

of the Limited Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators, and applying analytical and 

other procedures, as appropriate. These 

procedures included:

-  

interviews with senior management and 

relevant staff at corporate and selected 

site level concerning sustainability 

strategy and policies for material issues, 

and the implementation of these across 

the business;

-  

enquiries of management to gain an 

understanding of the Bank’s processes 

for determining material issues for the 

Bank’s key stakeholder groups;

-  

enquiries of relevant staff at corporate 

and selected site level responsible for 

the preparation of the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators;

-  

enquiries about the design and 

implementation of the systems and 

methods used to collect and report 

the Limited Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators, including the aggregation of 

the reported information;

-  

comparing the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators to relevant 

underlying sources on a sample basis 

to determine whether all the relevant 

information has been appropriately 

included in the Report;

-  

reading the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators presented in the 

Report to determine whether they are 

in line with our overall knowledge of, 

and experience with, the sustainability 

performance of the Bank;

-  

reading the remainder of the Report 

to determine whether there are any 

material misstatements of fact or 

material inconsistencies based on our 

understanding obtained as part of our 

assurance engagement.

The procedures performed in a limited 

assurance engagement vary in nature and 

timing from, and are less in extent than 

for, a reasonable assurance engagement, 

and consequently the level of assurance 

obtained in a limited assurance engagement 

is substantially lower than the assurance that 

would have been obtained had a reasonable 

assurance engagement been performed. 

Accordingly, we do not express a reasonable 

assurance conclusion on the Limited 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators.

Purpose of our report

In accordance with the terms of our 

engagement, this assurance report has 

been prepared for the Bank for the purpose 

of assisting the Directors in determining 

whether the Bank's Reasonable and Limited 

Assurance Sustainability Indicators are 

prepared and presented in accordance with 

the Consolidated Set of Global Reporting 

Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards 

Guidelines and for no other purpose or in 

any other context.

Restriction of use of our report

This report has been prepared for the 

Directors of Bank of Ceylon for the purpose 

of providing an assurance conclusion on 

the Reasonable Assurance Sustainability 

Indicators and the Limited Assurance 

Sustainability Indicators included in the Bank 

of Ceylon Integrated Annual Report for the 

year ended 31 December 2023 and may 

not be suitable for another purpose. We 

disclaim any assumption of responsibility for 

any reliance on this report, to any person 

other than the Directors of Bank of Ceylon, 

or for any other purpose than that for which 

it was prepared.

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Colombo

19 April 2024