BANK of Baroda (BOB) commemorated its 117th Foundation Day on July 20 with official celebrations organised by the Bank’s Fiji operations in Suva on Monday last week, July 23.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Reserve Bank Governor Ariff Ali and Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs and Sugar Industry Charan Jeath Singh, representing Government, Indian High Commissioner to Fiji P. S. Karthigeyan, invited guests and staff.

The bank was founded in India in 1908 by the Maharaja of Baroda State Sayajirao Gaekwad III and established its first branches in Ahmedabad two years later.

Fifty three years later in 1961, Bank of Baroda opened its branch in Fiji.

Today, it has around 153 million customers in India alone, making it one of the biggest banks in India, according to chief executive officer Fiji Operations, Lekshmy Anand.

Since it opened shop in Fiji in 1961, BOB has more than 100,000 customers and is the only bank operating in Fiji headed by a woman.

BOB celebrated its 117th year with the slogan: “TRUSTED TODAY, TRANSFORMING TOMORROW”, which, according to Ms Anand, “signifies on-going promise to uphold trust and reliability by pursuing transformative initiatives through innovative means to meet the changing needs of tomorrow’s banking.”