COMBANK among Top Companies in Asia, recognised for leadership and green efforts

Tuesday, 31 October 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon was named among the ‘Top Companies in Asia’ and the ‘Top Green Companies in Asia’ at the 2017 Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability (ACES) Awards that honour and showcase Asia’s finest and most responsible corporate leaders.

The bank was the only financial institution in Sri Lanka to be ranked among the Top Companies in Asia at these awards.

The ‘Top Companies in Asia’ selection is based on revenues and the company’s overall globalisation, growth rate, market size, innovativeness, international footprint, brand strength, team quality and experience, outstanding leadership ability and overall performance.

The award for ‘Top Green Companies in Asia’ honours companies that run their business operations with minimal negative impact on the environment, community, and society, while maintaining a profit.

The candidates that qualified for these prestigious awards were judged on a Leadership Matrix comprising of spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability, responsible practice, brand equity and revenue, and a Sustainability Matrix that encompassed products and innovation, leadership value, ethical compliance, diversity and inclusion and community empowerment.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s position in the ‘Top Green Companies in Asia’ category can be attributed to the bank’s stringent evaluation of credit proposals to gauge their impact on the environment and the sustainability of the projects, support to sustainable energy projects of its clients through lending, and for its own efforts in making its operations more environment friendly. Commercial Bank adopts a Social and Environmental Management System (SEMS) to assess and manage social and environmental risks in a strategic and systematic manner. Procedures and work flows within the framework of SEMS ensure that the bank’s lending is to environmentally sustainable, socially acceptable and economically viable projects.

The bank’s ‘Green Development Loans’, the installation of solar power systems at branches, its initiatives to migrate customers to digital platforms, and its investments in automated technology that minimise the use of paper are a few of its environment-friendly efforts.

Commenting on the two titles conferred on the bank at the awards ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel, Singapore, recently, the bank’s Managing Director Jegan Durairatnam said: “These awards are a testament that Commercial Bank is not only a financial industry leader in Sri Lanka, but is also a leader in sustainable and planet-friendly business. Empowering our customers to go Green is an important element in our product development.”

The ACES Awards are organised by the MORS Group whose vision statement is ‘championing an Asia that is flourishing, resilient, sustainable, and united’. The event attended by the bank saw a total of 44 ACES awards presented to winners from 185 entries across 11 Asian countries. All entries were voluntarily submitted to a management process audit in order to be eligible to contest. The awards value and recognise services and achievements of businesses large and small, national and international, for their esteemed contributions to their communities and the world.