Conquer any challenge with SME loans from Commercial Bank

Commercial Bank has been a pioneer in recognising the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who shape the country’s economy. Having provided financial solutions for this special segment for over four decades, the bank has developed a well-trained team that is geared to cater to the varying needs of SMEs. Furthermore, Commercial Bank has worked with many international organisations to establish dedicated credit lines for SMEs.

Commercial Bank’s relationship with SMEs often goes beyond lending, where the bank works closely with SMEs to further understand their businesses, provide guidance and capacity building, work out sustainable business solutions and advise them on critical matters such as technical, management, succession planning, etc. This continuous support and nurturing have resulted in many SMEs graduating to the corporate tier. There is a separate SME Loans scheme focusing on women entrepreneurs, where loans are offered at concessionary rates and necessary training is also provided.‘ComBank Biz Club’ formed by the bank, is a platform that focuses on bringing SME customers together to create new business opportunities and to provide them support beyond lending. Four tiers of membership; Premier, Platinum, Gold and Silver were created to enable the bank to identify and support the specific requirements of different SMEs. The bank has introduced a dedicated loan scheme for SMEs under the name ‘Biz Loan’ with attractive features, specially targeting this segment. Aiming to empower the SMEs with business know-how, Commercial Bank conducts capacity building programs of its own and conducts financial literacy programs in collaboration with the Central Bank as well. Since 2012, over 11,000 entrepreneurs have benefitted from these programs.

Commercial Bank has employed Agriculture and Micro Finance Officers (AMFOs), who visit the locations to analyse and understand potential businesses and start lending at a feasible and sustainable level. The bank’s 19 AMFUs cover the areas where assistance is mostly required. Another unique focus area is supply chain financing, where the suppliers of the bank’s corporate clients, who are generally SMEs, could be financed based on their cashflows.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the bank has taken an extra effort by setting up a ‘Help desk’ to provide timely and efficient services to SMEs who are affected badly. Nearly 52,000 SMEs were granted with moratoriums and more than 5,000 loans were granted through the Central Bank funded ‘Saubhagya COVID-19 Renaissance’ facility to revive affected SMEs in the country. In addition, the bank also came up with its own loan schemes to support MSMEs. The bank launched two of its loan schemes namely ‘Bank Funded C-19 Support Loan’ and ‘Dirishakthi COVID-19 Support Loan’. It conducted a number of webinars benefiting SMEs, exporters and women SMEs to face challenges created due to the pandemic situation. 

The bank’s extensive reach through the island-wide branch network has further strengthened the services rendered to the SMEs. Commercial Bank also offers state-of-the-art electronic banking services, including a variety of technology offerings that especially cater to the SME segment. These include Internet Payment Gateway services, QR Code based payment solutions, Point Of Sale solutions, especially designed internet-based payment solutions for SMEs such as ‘ComBank Simple Pay’ and salary payment packages such as the ‘Paymaster’ app.

Recently, in an attempt to continuously improve the way SMEs are served, a fresh strategy was formulated following a comprehensive study conducted by a top global consultancy firm. This transformation, driven in a data-driven approach, is aimed at catering to the SMEs’ evolving demands. This has enabled the bank to gain insights on further strengthening the existing relationships as well as targeting new customers by looking at its existing portfolio. Execution of the decisions made with these insights are done at the branch level. This is expected to help the bank staff to name a better understanding of the customer needs and facilitate a speedier loan sanctioning process.

The first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 11 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 268 branches and 932 automated machines in Sri Lanka.

The first and the only bank in Sri Lanka to achieve carbon neutral status, 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.