Commercial Bank wins big at Asian Banking and Finance Awards 2018

Commercial Bank Chief Operating Officer designate Sanath Manatunge (right) accepts awards won by the Bank at the 2018 Asian Banking & Finance Awards

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won four awards at the 2018 Asian Banking and Finance Awards, three in the ‘Wholesale Banking’ category and one in the ‘Retail Banking’ category, continuing its phenomenal run of success at international awards programs.

The Bank was awarded the titles of ‘Domestic Trade Finance Bank of the Year, Sri Lanka,’ ‘Domestic Technology & Operations Bank of the Year, Sri Lanka’ and ‘Domestic Foreign Exchange Bank of the Year, Sri Lanka’ in the Wholesale Banking Awards category, and won the award for ‘Automobile Lending Initiative of the Year, Sri Lanka’ in the Retail Banking Awards category at this prestigious event.

Recognised as a leading publication for banking and finance executives in Asia, the magazine evaluates the most outstanding practices and innovative strategies in Asia’s wholesale banking sector, as well as banks that stand out with ground-breaking products and services in the retail banking sphere despite the various challenges their sector faces.

All submissions for the awards were judged by a committee of esteemed industry experts on the uniqueness, innovation, effectiveness, impact, and dynamism of the entered products and services, based on nominations received. Only products and services launched within the past year could be entered.

Commercial Bank’s award for ‘Automobile Lending Initiative of the Year, Sri Lanka’ was in recognition of the Bank’s ‘Leasing Vaaré’ promotion which was launched to promote vehicle leasing facilities to its customers.

The Asian Banking and Finance Wholesale Banking Awards program was launched in 2012, while the magazine’s Retail Banking Awards program is in its 13th consecutive year of recognising industry game changers. 

The event at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, brought together more than 300 senior executives. More than 200 Asian banks from 40 countries received awards.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for eight years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 261 branches and 775 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won more than 30 international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and 16 international awards in the first six months of 2018 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.