Commercial Bank wins 4 prestigious awards at South Asian Partnership Summit

Declared Best Private Sector Bank in 

Sri Lanka and best for CSR, Brand Excellence and Sustainability in the banking industry

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won four top awards including Best Private Sector Bank in Sri Lanka at the 2016 South Asian Partnership Summit and Business Awards presented by World HRD Congress and endorsed by the Asian Confederation of Businesses. 

The most-awarded bank at the ceremony, Commercial Bank received the awards for ‘Best in CSR Practices, ‘Best in Brand Excellence in Banking and Financial Services and Insurance Industry,’ and ‘Best Sustainable Bank’ in addition to being named the ‘Best Private Sector Bank.’

The awards ceremony at Waters Edge on 13 October was attended by 200 senior corporate sector leaders and officials from several South Asian countries. 

The South Asian Business Awards honour and celebrate leaders around the region working to strengthen unity and increase economic opportunity. The goal of the South Asian Partnership Summit is to provide a forum to establish the standards of excellence for quality development and to honour the people and organisations responsible for developing the most effective actions that exemplify that excellence.

Commenting on these awards, Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam said: “At Commercial Bank we always strive to achieve excellence in everything we do, but it is always nice to be recognised for our efforts. We take pride in our strategic brand building efforts and commitment to sustainable business practices which have been recognised by both international and local awarding bodies.”

The jury for the awards program comprised of business leaders, researchers and academics of the stature of Dr. Arun Arora, ex-President and CEO, The Economic Times and Chairman, Edvance Pre-schools and Emeritus Chairman of the World HRD Congress; Dr. Harish Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of Onward Technologies Ltd., Emeritus Chairman World HRD Congress and Founder Member of NASSCOM; Professor Tom Hilton, Global Chairman of the Asia Pacific HRM Congress; Jack Jones, Global Chairman of World HRD Congress; Jonathan Peters, Global Chairman of Stars of the Industry Group;  Prof. Indira Parikh, ex Dean of IIM Ahmedabad and President – Antardisha; Dr. R.L. Bhatia, Founder, World CSR Day and World Sustainability; and Nina E. Woodard, President and Chief “N” Sights Officer of Nina E. Woodard & Associates,  a division of NDPendence Inc.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for six years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 251 branches and 640 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s Best Bank, Best Trade Bank, Strongest Bank, Most Respected Bank from a number of local and international institutions and publications over several years and 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 18 outlets, Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon and the Maldives, where the bank opened a fully-fledged Tier I Bank in September 2016. The bank has also received a license to operate a fully-owned Money Transfer Operation in Italy.