Commercial Bank ranked Sri Lanka’s Best Bank for record 10th year

For a record 10th year running, the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has been adjudged Sri Lanka’s ‘Best Bank’ by one of the world’s most respected financial publications, Global Finance (USA).

Commercial Bank has now won this award 10 out of the 15 times that Global Finance has published the results of its annual survey of Best Emerging Market Banks. The report covers best banks in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

Commenting on this latest accolade, the Managing Director of Commercial Bank Amitha Gooneratne said: “We are justifiably pleased at being ranked Sri Lanka’s Best Bank for the tenth consecutive year. With this, Commercial Bank has established a level of consistency of performance that is unique in the region.”

A comprehensive evaluation by Global Finance of the Bank’s performance over the past year, including growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products, led its editors, with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants to select Commercial Bank as the best among Sri Lankan banks in 2007.

Among the other indicators looked at were market share, return on equity and earnings, key capabilities and services offered, geographical range, recent or planned significant developments such as new launches, customer service endorsements and deployment of leading–edge technology.

Global Finance’s evaluation showed that the Commercial Bank continued to retain its position of the largest private sector bank in terms of assets and profits in 2007, had the highest market capitalisation and best track record of dividends in the Banking and Financial Sector. The Bank’s market capitalisation as at December 2007 was Rs 34.2 billion, about 4 per cent of the total market capitalisation of the Colombo Bourse.

The Bank’s key capabilities and services in the period reviewed included the expansion of the e-Exchange franchise, Model Branch concept and the launch of PAYMASTER – Total Payment Solution.

Its significant recent developments included re-affirmation of its credit rating of AA+(lka), strengthening of its Risk Management Unit and Anti Money Laundering Unit and the issue of Instant Debit Cards to account holders.

Other renowned banks from the region to receive the Global Finance Best Bank award include HSBC, HDFC Bank - India, Maybank - Malaysia, Habib Bank- Pakistan, Shinhan Bank-South Korea, Chinatrust Commercial Bank – Taiwan and Janata Bank-Bangladesh. The best banks in 20 countries in Asia were identified during the survey.

Global Finance, which enters its 21st year of publishing in 2008, has 50,000 subscribers and over 284,000 readers in more than 158 countries. This audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions. Global Finance also targets the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80 per cent of all assets under professional management.

Established in 1969, the Commercial Bank of Ceylon is the country’s benchmark private sector bank and operates a computer-linked network of 165 branches, and over 300 ATMs. The Bank also operates nine fully-fledged branches in Bangladesh. The Bank has also been rated the ‘Bank of the Year’ in Sri Lanka by The Banker, a top-notch global banking magazine for six years and in July 2007 was named the ‘Best Bank’ in Sri Lanka by the prestigious international financial magazine ‘Euromoney.’

The Commercial Bank Group ended 2007 with a stellar performance, which saw group pre-tax profits soar 33.8 per cent to Rs 6.791 billion. Post-tax profits rose to Rs 4.152 billion while total deposits of the group rose to Rs 183 billion, a healthy growth of 16.3 percent.