ComBank makes exceptional impression at Best Corporate Citizen awards

Thursday, 5 December 2019 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Members of the Commercial Bank team with the seven awards presented to the bank at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards

Commercial Bank’s Managing Director S. Renganathan (third from left), Personal Banking Deputy General Manager Sandra Walgama, Human Resource Management Deputy General Manager Isuru Tillakawardana and Marketing Deputy General Manager Hasrath Munasinghe with the presenters of the Best Corporate Citizen first runner-up award
 

 

  • Adjudged overall runner-up; wins 7 awards including accolades for ‘Governance’ and ‘Social Sustainability’

 

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s commitment to people, the planet and profit – the three pillars of sustainability – saw Sri Lanka’s benchmark private bank win seven awards including the award for second place overall at the 2019 Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards presented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

The bank was declared the winner of the Triple Bottom Line Award for Social Sustainability (People); the winner in the Finance Sector, the winner of the Category Awards for Customer Relations and for Governance and the winner of the award for Best Presented Application, and was presented an award for being among the Top 10 Best Corporate Citizens in Sri Lanka.

“We are elated to once again be among the top three corporate citizens of our country on the all-important platform of sustainability,” said Commercial Bank Managing Director and CEO S. Renganathan. 

“Commercial Bank’s emphasis on an equitable balance between the social, environmental and financial aspects of the business is not new, but we keep building on and fine-tuning our approach each year, making sustainability the bedrock of everything we do.”

“Being adjudged the winner in Governance is also of particular relevance to a bank that is of systemic importance to the national economy,” he added. “This is attributable to our robust governance structure that ensures transparent, ethical and prudent decision making and implementation and uncompromising compliance.” 

In the sphere of environmental sustainability, Commercial Bank was a pioneer among Sri Lankan banks to implement a Social Environment Management System (SEMS) which makes it mandatory for credit proposals to be screened under the SEMS framework. Additionally, the bank, one of first in its sector to obtain GHG verification, has achieved a significant reduction in energy consumption and is implementing a comprehensive program to reduce its environmental footprint through decreased power and water consumption, a transition to paperless operations and responsible waste and e-waste management.

Commercial Bank is also funding targeted research to improve Sri Lanka’s biodiversity and supports a program to ease air pollution in Colombo among other CSR initiatives linked to the environment.

The bank’s focus on people – customers, employees and communities at large – was adjudged the best among corporate entities assessed for the Triple Bottom Line Award for Social Sustainability. Among the aspects considered were the launch of 17 Sri Lanka firsts in terms of products and services in 2018, the size and geographical spread of the bank’s branch and ATM network, special facilities for disabled customers at 204 branches, responsible and inclusive communications, a well-structured portfolio of community initiatives aligned with national priorities, the highest disbursement of loans to SMEs, capacity-building programs to empower entrepreneurs and cultivation loans to micro enterprises.

In terms of economic performance, Commercial Bank recorded the highest profitability among all private banks in Sri Lanka, was the first private bank in the country to surpass Rs. 1 trillion in assets, had the largest loans portfolio and the largest deposits portfolio among private banks, paid Rs. 15 billion, approximately 48% of its profits, as taxes to the Government, and achieved the best CASA Ratio of 37.55% among all private banks in the country.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 banks for nine years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 267 branches and 856 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The bank won over 40 international and local awards in 2018, has received more than 30 awards to date this year and has been ranked among the 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka in 2019. 

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a representative office in Yangon and a microfinance company in Nay PyiTaw; and the Maldives, where the bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.

 

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