Signs MoU to create strategic platform to extend financial solutions to SME exporters in particular

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has entered into a strategic partnership with the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) to create another platform to extend financial solutions to the country’s exporters, with emphasis on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ratified by the two organisations paves the way for enhanced and focused access to the Chamber’s membership. This partnership will also see the extension of the Bank’s commitment to encourage and strengthen SMEs engaged in the export market, and the delivery of a full range of international banking capabilities and expertise to facilitate the growth of business for exporters, the Bank said.

The MoU between the Bank and the Chamber was signed by Commercial Bank’s Assistant General Manager – Personal Banking/SME Mr S. Ganeshan and the Director Operations of the National Chamber of Exporters Mrs Menaka Wanniarachchi.

Classified as a Higher-tier Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB) by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Commercial Bank is the single largest lender to the SME sector among all state-owned, private and specialised banks in the country, and channels more than 18% of Sri Lanka’s export volumes.

The National Chamber of Exporters traces its origins to 1986 when the National Exporters Association (NEA) was established to support exporters of Sri Lanka. In 1994 the NEA was incorporated as the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka, becoming the only trade chamber serving the country’s export sector exclusively. Membership of the chamber is open to all exporters of products and services and suppliers of products and services to the export industry.

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 268 branches and 940 automated machines in Sri Lanka. Commercial Bank is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 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.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank’s Assistant General Manager – Personal Banking /SME Mr S. Ganeshan and the Director Operations of the National Chamber of Exporters Mrs Menaka Wanniarachchi exchange the agreement in the presence of representatives of the Bank’s product management team.

The USA-based Web Marketing Association (WMA) has recognised Commercial Bank of Ceylon with a 'Bank Standard of Excellence' award at the Association’s WebAwards 2022, at which the world’s best websites in 86 industries were honoured.

The awards, adjudicated by a team of eminent independent Internet professionals, were based on an evaluation of the Design, Innovation, Content, Technology, Interactivity, Copywriting and Ease of use of each of the competing websites. Judges included members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters.

Other winners of the Bank Standard of Excellence award this year were Lincoln Savings Bank, Peapack-Gladstone Bank, Carver Federal Savings Bank and Lenderfit, all of the USA. First National Bank and Trust, USA won the award for Best Bank Website.

“We are pleased to have our website recognised by one of the world’s foremost authorities on the design and use of websites for commercial purposes,” Commercial Bank’s Deputy General Manager – Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe said. “Websites have become indispensable to banking, and at Commercial Bank we have been constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation and functionality while continuing to enhance the user-friendliness of our website. This award is a great source of affirmation that we are not only on the right track, but are on par with the world’s best.”

Notably, Commercial Bank’s WMA WebAward came close on the heels of the Bank’s website being recognised as the top ‘Banking and Finance’ website in the country at the BestWeb.lk 2022 competition hosted by the LK Domain Registry. In 2018, the corporate website of the Commercial Bank won the ‘Outstanding Website’ award in the ‘Banking’ category at the WMA WebAwards.

Commercial Bank relaunched its website www.combank.lk last year with features such as trilingual access to content, ultra-smooth interface with interactive multimedia material, enhanced navigation, experience-customisation, smarter search options and tools, and resources that make it extra user-friendly and informative.

According to the latest web statistics, the website receives 6.4 million visits per year and has recorded 4.5 million organic searches and 10 million page views per year. It is also the most visited corporate website of a bank in Sri Lanka.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been recognised as a role model with a Global Performance Excellence Award (GPEA) for achieving significant milestones in business excellence.

Sri Lanka’s benchmark private sector bank was one of eight of the winning organisations adjudged a ‘World Class’ winner of the Global Performance Excellence Award for 2022 presented by the New Zealand based Asia Pacific Quality Organisation (APQO).

The ‘World Class’ award was presented to Commercial Bank as a result of a submission made about the Bank’s commitment to facilitate business excellence based on the Baldrige Excellence Framework for the National Quality Award (SLNQA) presented by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) which was recommended by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution for the Asia Pacific Quality Organization competition.

The Global Performance Excellence Award was presented for validated management best practices, quality systems, standards, procedures and processes that are proven leading local, regional and international practices for quality advancement, business success and sustainability to support national, regional and Asia Pacific economic development, growth and success.

The awards aim to promote the adoption of proven or new approaches and strategies and best-in-class practices in various aspects of operational performance such as deployment of 4th Industrial revolution enabling technologies, automation and data technologies, smart manufacturing, service 4.0, digital transformation, data analytics, development of smart talents, etc., which are driving forces for companies or organisations to stay competitive in the ever-evolving economy.

Commercial Bank also won the APQO International Best Practice (AIBP) Gold Award for managing the system accesses given to Bank employees.

Commenting on this latest achievement, Commercial Bank Managing Director and CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge said: “We believe that quality, be it in service, process or product, must never be compromised even in the most challenging times. In fact, when external factors impact on some aspects of performance, adherence to quality becomes an important differentiator. Becoming the first and only Sri Lankan bank to win a Global Performance Excellence Award in the World Class category demonstrates that this credo has been adopted at every level within the Commercial Bank family.”

The Global Performance Excellence Awards programme is the only formal international recognition of performance or business excellence. The awards are intended to promote awareness in performance excellence as an increasingly important tool in competitiveness towards global business success and sustainability.

 The Asia Pacific Quality Organisation was formally established in 1985 and is represented by National Quality Organisations in Asia and Pacific Rim countries including the American Society for Quality. It is a non-profit organisation formed to be a primary mover for quality and continuous improvement for goods and services and quality of life in the Asia Pacific Region.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge delivers the acceptance speech at the virtual presentation ceremony of the Global Performance Excellence Awards.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has become the first Sri Lankan Bank to introduce card acceptance through Android smartphones, allowing its merchants to conveniently and cost effectively accept card payment transactions, changing the landscape of the digital payment industry in Sri Lanka with this state-of-the-art low-cost technology.

The Bank has announced that it is providing this facility in collaboration with PAYable Pvt Ltd. one of Sri Lanka’s leading fintech and digital payment solutions providers, and has integrated its payment system with PAYable SoftPOS, also known as PAYableTAP, which was developed in partnership with Mastercard and Worldline, a technology company that provides digital payment platforms to the financial sector.

This solution converts any NFC-enabled Android smartphone into a payment acceptance terminal. To enjoy the convenience of this facility, merchants simply have to download the PAYableTAP app, register with Commercial Bank, and perform Tap and Pay transactions by simply allowing cardholders to tap their NFC enabled credit or debit cards on the screen of the device to make payments.

The first of its kind in Sri Lanka, the SoftPOS solution is built on cutting-edge, secure digital payment technology and is one of the easiest to use, the Bank said. Commercial Bank certified this new technology with card schemes, and the Bank guarantees the security of the smartphone POS transactions to be the same as traditional POS transactions.

Designed with an intuitive interface, PAYableTAP is operable in all three languages, and eliminates the need for printed receipts as digital receipts are generated after each transaction and sent via SMS or email to the customer. With its simplified payment acceptance methodology, many micro and small businesses are benefitted by enabling convenient and secure digital payments, which is imperative to their progress, the Bank said. It is also ideal for delivery-based businesses with large rider fleets and businesses that work seasonally or accept payments periodically.

In 2016, Commercial Bank also introduced the mobile unit named ‘Easy POS’ that operates on the PAYable app downloadable to merchants’ smartphones. Any merchant outlet that has a smartphone can acquire an ‘Easy POS’ device and accept card payments as the device communicates with smartphones via Bluetooth, and can be used anywhere and at any time provided the device and the phone are within range of each other.

PAYable Pvt Ltd. currently serves over 35,000 merchants across Sri Lanka. Established in 2016, the platform has grown to offer multiple card-present and online digital payment acceptance solutions, e-commerce solutions and support services that help merchants grow their businesses sustainably.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge (right) and PAYable CEO/Co-Founder, Mr Yohan Wijesiriwardane perform the first transaction at the launch of Tap to Phone payments.

Photo captions: Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge (centre) and PAYable CEO/Co-Founder, Mr Yohan Wijesiriwardane exchange the agreement in the presence of (from left) PAYable Directors Mr Teresh Amaratunga and Mr S. Shanmuganathan, PAYable General Manager/Director Mr Saajid Reyaz, and Commercial Bank’s Deputy General Manager Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe, Chief Manager Card Centre Mr Nishantha De Silva, Senior Manager Card Centre Mr Seevali Wickramasinghe and Officer Card Centre Mr Wishan Fernando.

• Only bank among Sri Lanka’s Top 10 listed companies in 2021-22 ranking
• Highest ranked Bank on revenue and profit
• Ranked among Top 10 for 29^th consecutive year

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has once again been confirmed the highest-ranked bank in the latest edition of the ‘LMD 100’ and is the only bank among the Top 10 companies on this prestigious list widely considered Sri Lanka’s version of the Fortune 500.

 The Bank has steadfastly remained among the Top 10 corporate giants every year since the inception of this ranking 29 years ago and has been affirmed the bank with the highest revenue and profit for 2021-22.  

 The LMD 100 positions Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank 7^th overall in terms of revenue and 6^thoverall in terms of profit among the largest business groups in the country, proving the Bank’s mettle in what the magazine describes as a “watershed year” for Sri Lanka’s listed entities. 

 The LMD’s primary ranking is based on turnover, but the magazine also ranks companies by sector as well as by total assets, profit after tax, shareholders’ funds, market capitalisation and other performance indicators.

 Commenting on the Bank’s consistent ranking among the top tier of the LMD 100, Commercial Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr Sanath Manatunge said: “Customers and investors alike look for unshakeable strength and stability in a bank, especially in times of adversity and change. Commercial Bank’s record in this respect has been exemplary, holding its own among the largest diversified conglomerates in the country for nearly three decades, and leading the Banking sector on the LMD 100 since the inception of the ranking.”

The LMD 100 ranking encompasses many of the country’s leading conglomerates, telcos, retail giants, insurers and other sector leaders, as well as listed banks.

Sri Lanka’s benchmark private sector bank, Commercial Bank ended 2021 with gross income of Rs 163.675 billion, net profit of Rs 24.29 billion, total assets of Rs 1.983 trillion, a deposits base of Rs 1.473 trillion and a loan book of Rs 1.095 trillion.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recorded a noteworthy feat on the international stage this week receiving two coveted international awards from Asiamoney for the third consecutive year. The Bank was presented the awards for ‘Best Bank for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Banking’ and ‘Best Bank for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)’at the 2022 Asiamoney awards gala at the Tower Ballroom of the Shangri la Hotel in Singapore on 21^st September. Pictured here is Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge with the awards presented to the Bank.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s latest series of promotions to encourage new accounts and foreign remittances with special offers and gifts for customers took place in Jaffna recently and coincided with the festival of the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil.

During the week-long campaign, the Bank created awareness about its retail product offerings, including the ‘Vibe’ Youth Savings Account, DotCom Teen Savings Account, and the ‘Arunalu’ Foreign Currency Minor’s Savings Account which was recently launched to encourage parents and guardians to save for their children in foreign currency. New Vibe and DotCom customers were presented Vibe and DotCom debit cards, free of charge.

The Bank also focussed on the benefits of using ‘ComBank RemitPlus’ for access to remittance-related information and services, Cash-to-Account remittance conversions, the convenience of receiving e-receipts for remittances credited to accounts, and the usefulness of ComBank Digital, the Bank’s omni-channel digital banking platform.

Potential customers were informed of the Bank’s ongoing promotions and offers via social media and leaflets activations at the Jaffna Peninsula. The Bank said it was able to reach a wider audience owing to the large crowds that had come to participate in the Nallur festival which is one of the most popular festivals in Jaffna.

Pictured here are members of the Bank’s staff interacting with customers during the promotion and a ComBank Bank-on-Wheels unit deployed in Nallur.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced that the Bank’s popular children’s art competition ‘Arunalu Siththam’ is back for a third year, extending an invitation to young Sri Lankans countrywide to express themselves through their artistic talents.

Open to children between the ages of four and 16, the competition hosted under the banner of the Bank’s popular children’s savings account ‘Arunalu’ will reward young artists with 137 cash prizes of a cumulative value of Rs 2 million. Another 250 participants will also receive merit certificates. Following the success of last year’s online competition, the 2022 edition too will take place online, the Bank said.

Participants can submit their drawings under five categories: Pre-school (ages 4-5), Primary (ages 6-7), Post Primary (ages 8-10), Junior (ages 11-13), and Senior (ages 14-16). While the younger contestants will have complete freedom to draw on a topic of their choosing on A3 size paper, participants in the Junior and Senior Categories are requested to create art exploring the themes – ‘Becoming a good child,’ and ‘Humanity,’ respectively, on 14x18 inch paper.

As the competition is designed to promote creativity among children, draw out hidden talent and encourage artistic flair, the Bank said the competitors may choose a medium of their preference to colour their ideas on paper, avoiding sticky and non-drying types of paint.

Applicants can submit their drawings and paintings by simply visiting www.arunalusiththam.lk any day between the 1^st September and 15^th October 2022 and uploading a scanned copy of their completed art along with the relevant details. The drawing should be in JPEG format and should not exceed 5MB in file size. Submissions are limited to one drawing per contestant and should be an original piece of work, never-before submitted to any other competition.

During submission, applicants will be asked to complete details regarding their full name, date of birth, address, email address, telephone number, name of parent or guardian, and name of school and address. When a drawing is selected for the final round, applicants will be required to send in the hard copy of the drawing to the Bank. Upon winning a prize, the original drawing must be certified by the child’s school principal, Grama Niladhari, a lawyer or by a Justice of the Peace.

The Bank said 25 of the youngest contestants who submit the most creative drawings in the Pre-School category will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000 each with certificates. Another 50 participants in this category will also receive Merit Certificates.

Furthermore, the drawings that win first place in the other four categories will each be awarded a cash prize of Rs 100,000, while the second and third placed drawings in these categories will receive cash prizes of Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively, along with certificates.

In each of the Post-Primary, Primary, Junior and Senior categories 25 contestants will also receive Awards of Excellence with cash prizes of Rs 10,000 each along with 100 certificates. Another 50 contestants from each of these four categories will be awarded Merit Certificates. All cash prizes will be credited to Arunalu Children’s Savings Accounts of Commercial Bank.

Commercial Bank will reserve all rights to the submitted drawings and all decisions made by a veteran panel of judges regarding winners will be final, the Bank said.

Commercial Bank launched the ‘Arunalu Siththam Art Competition’ in 2017. The flagship children’s savings account of Commercial Bank, Arunalu, after which the competition was named, offers a higher interest rate for Children’s Savings Accounts and rewards account holders with special cash prizes if they score the first, second or third highest aggregate marks in their schools at the Year 5 Scholarship Examination.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

Wins Silver at BestWeb.lk 2022 competition organised by LK Domain Registry

The corporate website of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been recognised as the top ‘Banking and Finance’ website in the country at the BestWeb.lk 2022 competition hosted by the LK Domain Registry.

The Bank won the Silver – the highest award presented in its category – at the 12^th edition of the BestWeb.lk annual awards ceremony held recently at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. Commercial Bank was presented the same award in 2020 and won a Bronze at the 2017 BestWeb.lk competition. The Gold award was not presented in the ‘Banking and Finance’ category this year.

The relaunch of www.combank.lk last year with features such as trilingual access to content, ultra-smooth interface with interactive multimedia material, enhanced navigation, experience-customisation, smarter search options and tools, and resources that make it extra user-friendly and informative, contributed towards the Bank winning this award.

Commenting on this achievement, Commercial Bank’s Deputy General Manager – Marketing, Mr Hasrath Munasinghe said: “Websites often provide the first impression of an organisation’s offering as well as image, and the features and navigation options on the site act like support staff and customer assistants. Commercial Bank has been acutely cognisant of the evolving digital space it inhabits and has continued to enhance customer service and access to information through technology, digital tools and its website. This latest award once again reiterates our position as a leader in technology-enabled convenience in the banking sector.”

A panel of judges comprising of ICT Industry experts including academics, professionals and business leaders judged the websites of competing entries on technological expertise, creativity, quality of design, quality and quantity of content, interactivity, community purpose, mobile compatibility, and compliance to standards. During the final phase of the competition, the public was invited to cast votes via the organiser’s official website.

While metrics such as completeness, navigation and performance were included under the Technical criteria, overall quality of website design including site architecture, navigation ease, consistency and user-friendliness, and quality of individual page design based on overall aesthetics and professionalism factored under the Design criteria.

Meanwhile, the interactivity of the websites was judged based on the quality of interaction they incite with users, and privacy and security features. Multilingual websites in Unicode standards qualified under the ‘Community Purpose’ criteria. Further, entries were awarded bonus points for features such as multilingual access, accessibility for disabled persons, use of latest technology, and social media integration, and were penalised for copyright violations. All websites registered under the .lk domain were eligible to enter the competition.

The LK Domain Registry is the national body that registers domain names ending in “.lk.” It is an independent non-profit organisation that helps Sri Lankan organisations and individuals create their unique identities on the web. Launched in 2009, BestWeb.lk is a web-based competition that provides an exclusive opportunity to promote and popularise web presence in Sri Lanka.

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank's Senior Manager – Marketing Ms Irosha Weththasingha (centre) receives the award from the Head of Digital Media at Express Newspapers Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd. Mr S Ramesh Kumar in the presence of (from left) Commercial Bank’s Senior Web Designer Ms Shyamali Amarasena and Officer – Digital Marketing Mr Gayan Punchihewa and the Manager Partnerships at LK Domain Registry Ms Niroja Jayawardane.

• Also rated ‘Highly Regarded’ in ‘Investment Banking’ and ‘Digital Solutions’ in magazine’s new Accreditation Programme

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been ranked as ‘Market Leader’ in Sri Lanka in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and SME Banking under the Euromoney Market Leaders 2022 Accreditation Programme launched by the prestigious publication this year.

Euromoney also accorded Commercial Bank a ‘Highly Regarded’ accreditation for its offerings in ‘Investment Banking’ and ‘Digital Solutions.’

The Bank’s success was recognised across these four categories at a national level at the inaugural accreditation programme that was introduced to compliment the existing Euromoney and Asiamoney awards by providing a comprehensive global ranking of banking and finance brands across several key segments.

“An accreditation programme of this nature is very welcome because it goes beyond the format of the evaluation for awards with a grading methodology,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director and CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge said. “This allows multiple players to be graded in different aspects of performance, and motivates those with lower accreditations to strive to progress to the next level of recognition. We are delighted to be ranked Market Leader in both CSR and SME banking, two high priority areas for Commercial Bank.”

Commercial Bank received the ‘Market Leader’ranking in CSR for completing over 600 projects under the categories of education, healthcare, community, culture and heritage, and environment by the close of 2021. The Bank has donated 248 IT Labs to date, benefitting over 220,000 students, and has continued its support to initiatives in education with projects such as Digital Citizens, Smart Schools, Math Labs, STEM Classrooms, Coding Clubs and Vocational Training. The Bank also donated essential medical equipment for the treatment of COVID-19 patients to 25 state hospitals and contributed towards a number of community initiatives to solve problems of access to safe water and sanitation. It also embarked on the third phase of a Mangrove planting project around the Koggala Lake to prevent erosion, extended support towards the conservation of sea turtles and continued to promote environment management among clients by encouraging and funding green businesses.

Commercial Bank’s efforts to uplift the local SME segment with facilities such as its ‘Biz Loans’ and ‘Agri Gold Loans’ schemes, capacity building initiatives for SMEs, support to women entrepreneurs in the country, continuous deployments of the ‘Bank-on-Wheels’ operation and disbursement of COVID-19 support loans contributed towards its Market Leader ranking in ‘SME Banking.’ In 2021, the Bank’s SME loans portfolio grew by 10% in value to Rs 210.967 billion. The Ministry of Finance had declared Commercial Bank as the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector among all state-owned, private and specialised banks in the country in 2020, accounting for more than a fifth of all loans in terms of value and number. The Bank maintained this momentum in SME lending in 2021 too, during which it notably secured a US $50 million loan from the CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, to further facilitate lending to SMEs and support climate projects in Sri Lanka.

The Bank’s ‘Highly Regarded’ status in offering Digital Solutions in the country can be attributed to a series of innovative apps, facilities and systems launched to enhance the customers’ digital experiences. These include enhancements to the Bank’s integrated online banking platform, ComBank Digital, to enable payments to government institutions and group payments for ComBank Digital business users. In 2021, the number of customers using ComBank Digital increased by 55% compared to the previous year. Additionally, Commercial Bank became the first bank in the country to accept digital signatures, relaunched its corporate website in all three languages, and launched Viber and WhatsApp banking, among others.

The Bank’s key projects in investment banking included the arrangement of facilities to the value of Rs 10 billion for a leading listed company, structuring and arranging term financing to the value of Rs 2 billion for a customer in the healthcare industry, financing four ground-mounted solar projects and a mini hydro power project with capacities totaling 8MW which is expected to reduce GHG emissions by 9,730Co₂e, and raising funds to the value of Rs 8.595 billion via a Commercial Bank debenture issue in 2021.

Commercial Bank was also crowned the ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for the seventh time by Euromoney at its Asia Awards for Excellence 2021 and was adjudged ‘Best Bank for SME Banking’ and ‘Best Bank for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)’at the 2022 Asiamoney Best Bank Awards.

The Euromoney Market Leaders programme is an independent assessment of the leading financial service providers across key banking categories in each market. These rankings are an extension of Euromoney’s world-renowned awards programmes to recognise a financial institution’s achievements and capabilities beyond a 12-month period. Assessments are based on awards submissions, industry interviews, in-house data, and proprietary research. In each category, Euromoney Market Leaders offers up to three ranking tiers: Market Leader (Tier-1), Highly Regarded (Tier-2), Notable (Tier-3).

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 268 branches and 940 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 19 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.