The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been recognised as Sri Lanka's Best Bank once again by the US-based Global Finance magazine, at its 30^th annual awards ceremony for the World's Best Banks 2023, reaffirming the Bank's reputation as the top performer in the country's financial industry.

This is the 21^st occasion that Commercial Bank has won this title. The latest edition of Global Finance’s list of 28 Best Banks in Asia Pacific has placed Commercial Bank alongside popular banks in the region such as ANZ Bank - Australia, ICBC Bank - China, The Bank of East Asia - Hong Kong, The State Bank of India, ANZ New Zealand, and DBS Bank – Singapore, which were declared the best banks in their respective countries.

The award-winning banks were those that attended carefully to their customers’ needs in difficult markets and accomplished strong results while laying the foundations for future success. Winning organisations managed their assets and liabilities in a savvy way considering the fast-changing interest rate scenarios, the magazine noted.

In selecting these top banks, Global Finance considered factors that ranged from the quantitative objective to the informed subjective. Objective criteria included: growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Subjective criteria included the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry. Award winners were selected by the editors of Global Finance after extensive consultations with corporate financial executives, bankers and banking consultants, and analysts throughout the world.

Commenting on winning this coveted award, Commercial Bank Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sanath Manatunge said: “Although the economic impacts of the pandemic still lingered in 2022, the Bank began the year with the strength derived from a stable liquidity position, capital buffers, and prudent provision cover. These collectively gave the Bank a competitive advantage over peers which paved the way for it to accelerate its growth trajectory in 2022. Commercial Bank reaffirmed its status quo as the industry benchmark private bank in Sri Lanka by establishing itself as the bank with the highest profit before and after tax, the highest deposit base, highest loans and advances portfolio, highest total asset base, and highest market capitalisation among others in the year of assessment.”

Commercial Bank closed 2022 with assets approaching Rs 2.5 trillion, gross income of Rs 280 billion, deposits of Rs 1.9 trillion, a loan book of Rs 1.2 trillion and a customer base exceeding 3.5 million. Earlier this year, the Bank also won the award for the ‘Best SME Bank’ in Sri Lanka from Global Finance magazine.

A full report on the Best Bank selections will be published in the May issue of Global Finance, with winners chosen in over 150 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean, Central America, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and Western Europe. This report will also feature selections for the Best Islamic Financial Institutions and the World’s Best Banks by Region. In addition, Global Finance will announce the Best Banks in the US Region shortly.

Founded in 1987, Global Finance has a circulation of 50,050 and a readership encompassing chairpersons, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers and other senior financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Global Finance is headquartered in New York and has offices in London and Milan.

Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 12 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 270 branches and 950 automated machines in Sri Lanka. Commercial Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 20 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.