Combank website adjudged best in finance sector at SLT ZeroOne Awards

The website of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon was adjudged the best in Sri Lanka’s financial sector at the inaugural SLT ZeroOne Awards presented by Sri Lanka Telecom.

The country’s largest private bank was presented the award for ‘Best website or Microsite – Finance Sector’ at the gala event at Hilton Colombo on Thursday, 22 June.

The prestigious award recognises excellence in website or microsite design and development and considers how the overall functionality of the site, structure, navigation, content and design meet the site’s objectives. In determining the winners, the creativity and complex interactive features of contending websites were taken into account.

The panel of eminent judges looked at the overall architecture of the sites, the user interface and how it follows current design principles to create a seamless experience for users, as well as the achievement of key performance indicators (KPIs) set for the site.

“Our website is a vital part of our engagement with our customers in Sri Lanka and around the world and in the delivery of services in the ‘anytime, anywhere’ paradigm,” Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager - Marketing Hasrath Munasinghe said. 

“Every effort is made to keep pace with evolving technology to ensure that the website offers the best and most secure service possible. This award affirms the success of our efforts.”

Presented for the first time, the SLT ZeroOne Awards event was organised to recognise institutions, individuals and brands for achievements by leveraging digital technologies.

The use of the latest technologies for animation and interaction augmenting speed and user experience, along with several important changes in the way information is organised and presented and made user responsive are the standout features of Commercial Bank’s website. Furthermore, the site offers enhanced responsiveness to access via phone devices and tabs.

An enhanced geo-location function for the bank’s branch network enables the website to automatically pick up the locations of users who have allowed it to, and show them the closest available branch, with distance calculations.

The streamlining of product information through an all-inclusive mini-product portal from which users can get whatever information they need without clicking through to other pages, and persistent favourite pages that make it possible for users to save pages they frequently visit, significantly enhance the user experience.

Another key feature of the website is a needs-based user guidance wizard which simulates the personalised interaction experienced at a branch via a tool that captures a user’s needs and guides that user to the product or service that is most suitable for the requirement at hand.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the top 1,000 banks of the world for six years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 256 branches and 668 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The bank won 10 major international awards in 2016 and has over the years won 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. It has also been adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for several years. 

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 opened a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a stake of 55% in September 2016 and Italy, where the bank launched its own money transfer service in November 2016.