Commercial Bank the highest ranked bank in latest LMD 100

Commercial Bank MD /CEO Jegan Durairatnam (extreme right) at the LMD 100 awards ceremony

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has topped the LMD 100 ranking of Sri Lanka’s leading listed companies in terms of assets, taken second place overall on Profit After Tax (PAT) and fifth place overall on turnover in the magazine’s just published rankings for 2014-15. The bank also won the Sector Award for Banking at the ceremony.

The highest-ranked bank in the LMD 100, Commercial Bank is also ranked second overall in terms of shareholders’ funds in this prestigious list compiled by LMD since 1993-94 when it was the LMD 50.

Ahead of several of the country’s leading diversified conglomerates, telcos, insurers and retail giants in 2014-15, Commercial Bank ended the year with total assets of Rs. 797.258 billion, turnover of Rs. 74.538 billion, PAT of Rs 11.243 billion and shareholder’s funds of Rs. 71.206 billion.

The LMD 100’s primary ranking is based on turnover.

“We generally benchmark our financial performance against the performances of peer banks, but it is most encouraging to see that the bank is amongst some of the top business groups in our country,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam said. “This is possible as a result of the depth of penetration the bank has achieved in retail and corporate banking over the years to become an integral part of the national economy and the lives of our citizens.”

In 2015, Commercial Bank was rated the most respected bank in Sri Lanka for the 11th consecutive year and the second most respected corporate entity in the country overall for the fifth successive year by LMD. The only bank in the top five on the most respected list, Commercial Bank was also ranked No. 1 in Sri Lanka for ‘Honesty’ for the third consecutive year and No. 1 in Financial Performance and was among the top five in several other areas of evaluation.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for five consecutive years, Commercial Bank operates a network of 246 branches, and a network of 618 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The bank was ranked the most valuable private sector brand in Sri Lanka in 2014 and has also won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank from a number of international publications over several years. The bank was adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and 2014.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 18 branches and Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon. In September 2015, the bank received regulatory approval for the establishment of a fully-fledged Tier I bank in the Republic of Maldives.