Global Finance (USA) names Commercial Bank ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for 17th time

One of the world’s leading financial magazines has rated Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC the Best Bank in Sri Lanka, reaffirming the bank’s status as the leader in its field for an emphatic 17th year.

Global Finance’s just-released 2016 list of the world’s 25 Best Emerging Markets Banks in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, names Commercial Bank alongside some of the leading banks in these regions.

Criteria for choosing the winners included growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products. In addition, a poll of Global Finance’s corporate readership was conducted in order to increase the accuracy and reliability of the results, the magazine said.

“We are delighted to be named the Best Bank in Sri Lanka for the 17th time since Global Finance began this annual exercise,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director and CEO Jegan Durairatnam said. “Given its audited circulation of more than 50,000 in the upper echelons of global corporate leadership, this assessment carries much weight, and the stringent evaluation process has an acknowledged credibility.”

The detailed results of Global Finance’s latest exclusive survey are to be published in the May 2016 issue of the magazine and winners will be honoured at an awards ceremony held during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC on the morning of 8 October at the National Press Club.

Named alongside Commercial Bank this year as the Best Banks in their respective countries in the Asia Pacific region are ICBC (China), State Bank of India (India), Bank Rakyat (Indonesia) Standard Chartered (Pakistan), Maybank (Malaysia), CTBC Bank (Taiwan), KEB Hana Bank (South Korea), Siam Commercial Bank (Thailand) and City Bank (Bangladesh).

“We honour those banks that excel at addressing the needs of their clients and have the deepest commitment to the markets in which they operate, despite the uncertain conditions they face,” said Global Finance Publisher and Editorial Director Joseph D. Giarraputo. “The world’s banks continue to deal with a number of headwinds, including geopolitical risk, volatile economic and market conditions and still-changing regulatory regimes.”

Founded in 1987, Global Finance has a circulation of 50,050 and readers in 188 countries. Its audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers and other senior financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Global Finance also targets the 8,000 international portfolio investors responsible for more than 80% of all global assets under professional management.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for five consecutive years, Commercial Bank operates a network of 250 branches and 625 ATMs in Sri Lanka, the largest electronic cash dispensing facility owned by a single bank in the country. The bank was ranked the most valuable private sector brand in Sri Lanka in 2014 and has also won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank from a number of international publications over several years. The bank was adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and 2014.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 18 branches and Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon. In September 2015, the bank received regulatory approval for the establishment of a fully-fledged Tier I Bank in the Republic of Maldives. The bank also received license to operate a fully owned Money Transfer Operation in Italy recently.