ComBank among Sri Lanka’s ‘10 Most Admired Companies’ for 3rd year

Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe and Managing Director S. Renganathan

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon was recently named among the ‘10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka’ in 2019-20 by the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

The bank has been ranked among the Top 10 companies in this prestigious list in every one of the three years since the two organisations launched the list in 2018.

Commenting on this latest accolade, Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan said: “Being named among the 10 most admired companies in Sri Lanka is a remarkable achievement, especially because admiration is subjective, and like respect, is earned. It means that our unwavering focus on the triple bottom line of ‘People, Planet and Profit’ is appreciated by stakeholders.”

Open to both listed and unlisted companies, the ICCSL-CIMA Most Admired Company Awards recognise entities that are a cut above the rest in terms of not just their financial performance but also the value they create for their shareholders, customers, employees, and the wider community in general. Commercial Bank was recognised for proving its mettle with consistency, authority, and sustainable growth, creating excellent business performance.

In terms of financial performance, Commercial Bank is the largest private bank in the country with the highest operating income, market capitalisation and gross income. Total assets as at end June 2020 stood at Rs. 1.567 trillion, total deposits at Rs. 1.155 trillion and total loans at Rs. 941.5 billion.

With more than 5,000 employees and over 3.5 million customers, the bank said it strives to manage the business to achieve sustainable growth and optimise return on shareholders’ funds, considers staff as a valuable asset and attaches high importance to employee welfare and development while contributing to the Government’s efforts to improve socio-economic life in Sri Lanka. 

As one of the leading employers in the country, the bank said it practices equal opportunity in all hiring processes, promotes a culture of continuous learning and knowledge gathering, performance-based appraisals, and teamwork. The bank’s training and development strategy is formulated to facilitate ultimate job satisfaction, skills and talent enhancement, and career progression among others to ensure that its staff is well-equipped with the competencies to undertake current as well as future tasks.

To add value to its customers, the bank launched several new products in the period of assessment for the award. Among these were several that bring convenience with the aid of technology. They include ComBank Q+, which is Sri Lanka’s first QR-based payment app under LANKAQR; ComBank RemitPlus, a mobile app for users of remittance services; WeChat Pay acceptance; and the launch of UnionPay Cards. The bank is also the only one in Sri Lanka that is PCI-DSS-certified. 

Other innovative initiatives that contributed towards the bank’s ranking includes the launch of the ‘Achiever Salary Account’, ‘Yasasa Savings Account’—exclusively for pensioners, Vibe Youth Account, money remittance facility, pre-paid spend cards, and pre-paid web cards with the online top-up facility, the introduction of online and mobile banking registrations via ATMs, and the trilingual eSlip mobile application. The bank was also recognised for its successful efforts in meeting the challenges faced by its staff during the COVID-19 necessitated lockdown and for the launch of the ‘Arunella Financial Support Scheme’ to support customers affected by the pandemic. 

The bank’s sustainability initiatives include environmentally responsible financing, blue conservation, financial inclusion, green banking services and establishing green buildings. Its corporate social responsibility initiatives in the year reviewed exceeded 400 projects to the value of over Rs. 500 million. These projects are focused on uplifting the state of education with an emphasis on IT and STEM, healthcare services, cultural heritage, and environmental conservation. 

The first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the ‘Top 1,000 Banks of the World’ and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 10 years consecutively, Commercial Bank is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The bank, which won more than 50 international and local awards in 2019, operates a network of 268 branches and 880 ATMs in Sri Lanka. 

Commercial 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.