The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has won the coveted Gold at the 2024 National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA), the national ICT awards.

The Bank won the Gold in the highly competitive ‘Banking, Insurance & Finance Consumer’ category for ‘ComBank Digital’ – the Bank’s flagship digital channel that serves retail, SME and corporate clients.

Complementing this triumph, the Bank received a Merit award in the same category for ‘Jimi GPT’ – the generative AI-powered Knowledge Assistant that assists more than 3,000 branch staff to instantly access the information they need from the Bank’s Intranet to serve customers.

Commenting on the award won by ComBank Digital, Commercial Bank’s Chief Information Officer Mr Sumudu Gunawardhana said: “Winning this national ICT award is a powerful testament to ComBank Digital's success in delivering an exceptional customer experience. Our app provides unparalleled convenience and security, empowering customers to manage their finances with ease. This recognition inspires us to continue innovating and setting new standards for digital banking at Commercial Bank, ensuring our customers always have access to the best possible tools and services. This is particularly exciting as we are about to welcome our 1.5 millionth customer to the platform, a true milestone in our journey.”

Sri Lanka’s most-used digital banking platform, ComBank Digital processes more than 5 million transactions a month. Offered via a responsive web application and three native mobile applications (iOS, Android and Huawei), ComBank Digital encompasses functionalities ranging from banking needs, wealth investment, payments and lifestyle with access across all devices such as desktop PCs, laptop computers, tabs and smart phones.

Driven by Commercial Bank’s ‘Digital by Default’ business model, ComBank Digital had achieved 44% digital penetration, was recording 48 million customer interactions per month and processing transactions averaging Rs 390 billion in value per month by end September this year.

The Gold award at the national ICT awards also recognises the excellence of the platform and its impact in advancing digital banking solutions for customers, the Bank said.

This embraces the trend-setting innovations and creative aspects of ComBank Digital, including several industry-first initiatives in Sri Lanka’s banking and finance industry, such as the launch of a loyalty rewards scheme for digital banking usage; the introduction of an e-FD Redemption feature on a digital banking platform, the revolutionary ‘Viewing issued Cheque Images’ feature; and instant loan against Cash/eFD.

Meanwhile, the Merit award presented to ‘Jimi GPT’ recognises the game-changing role the AI-driven Knowledge Assistant will play in creating the work environment for the ‘Gen Z’ banker, while improving operational efficiency, accuracy of the information extracted and speeding up of onboarding time. For branch staff, ‘Jimi GPT’ reduces the time to access information to just 30 seconds.

Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, Commercial Bank is the largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka and the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World. The Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector, and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. Commercial Bank operates a strategically-located network of branches and 974 automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan Banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, and a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives.

Photo caption: Representatives of Commercial Bank accept the two awards at the National Best Quality Software Awards 2024