Combank adjudged ‘Sri Lanka Bank of the Year’ by Frost and Sullivan

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been adjudged ‘2018 Sri Lanka Bank of the Year’by Frost and Sullivan,a global research and consulting organisation that presents Best Practices Awards to recognise companies in regional and global markets. 

The award presented to Commercial Bank is based oninnovative products, technologies, solutions and services offered; its visionary and innovative products that meet critical customer needs; the implementation of its Industry Best-in-Class Practices, processes and activities; the benefits of pioneering best practices for innovation strategy; the bank’s success in its business performance in the previous year; revenue, revenue growth, operating margin and other key financial metrics; financial success compared to competitors; strategy for providing best value to customers for the price, compared to similar offerings from competitors; key value proposition that provides the bank a major competitive advantage over other players in the industry; feedback from customers regarding the price and performance value offered by the bank; and the unique selling points of the bank in offering the best and differentiated service experience to customers. 

Commenting on this prestigious international accolade, Commercial Bank Chief Operating Officer S. Renganathan said: “It is an honour to be recognised as the Best Bank in Sri Lanka by Frost and Sullivan which identifies companies that areinspired by visionary growth, innovation, and leadership. This award is particularly significant as this is the first time that the Bank was invited to participate in this awards programme.”

Commercial Bank’s e-passbook, Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled premium credit cards for both Visa and Mastercard, ‘Over the Air PIN’ (OTAP)facility for its cards, online banking platform for loans and fixed deposits, Max Loyalty Rewards, Green development loans, launch of Sri Lanka’s first ever Remittance Card, and the launch of the country’s first Small and Medium Entrepreneurs networking society ‘BIZ Club’ are a few of the bank’s innovative products and services that contributed to it being chosen for the ‘2018 Sri Lanka Bank of the year’ award by Frost and Sullivan.

Furthermore, the bank’s environmentally responsible financing, education of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) andbeing the highest lender to SME sector were considered among the bank’s notable best practice processes.  

Excellingin key financial metrics, Commercial Bank posted profit before VAT and NBT of Rs. 28.064 billionat the close of 2017, reflecting a growth of 18.14% over the previous year. It also recorded a gross income increase of 24.10% to Rs. 115.594 billion, with interest income of Rs. 103.034 billion, up Rs. 22.296 billion or 27.62% primarily due to a significant growth in the bank’s loan book over the 12 months. 

Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a range of regional and global markets for superior leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Frost & Sullivan’s industry analyst team benchmarks market participants and measures their performance through independent, primary interviews, and secondary industry research in order to evaluate and identify best practices.

Recognised as a global research and consulting organisation, Frost and Sullivan has for the past 50 yearsbeen  guiding clients toward transformational growth strategies by focusing on innovation opportunities driven by disruptive technologies, mega trends, emerging markets and new business models.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for seven years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 261 branches and 756 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won more than 30 international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and has over the years received multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s Best Bank, Best Trade Bank, Strongest Bank and Most Respected Bank from a number of local and international institutions and publications.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets, Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon, the Maldives, where the bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake and Italy, where the bank operates its own money transfer service.