The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been named the ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for a remarkable 22nd year in the ‘World’s Best Banks 2024’ list released recently by the US-based Global Finance magazine.
Global Finance said its Best Bank Awards recognise financial institutions that offer the broadest range of services, long-term reliability, and technological innovation.
“The winners of this year’s awards are those banks that attended carefully to their customers’ needs in difficult markets and accomplished strong results while laying the foundations for future success,” the magazine said.“Winning organizations managed their assets and liabilities in a savvy
way in light of the fast-changing interest rate scenarios.”
The 2024 edition of Global Finance’s list of 28 Best Banks in the Asia Pacific region names Commercial Bank alongside leading banks of the calibre ofCBA (Australia), China Construction Bank (China), HSBC (Hong Kong), ANZ (New Zealand), UOB (Singapore), Hana Bank (South Korea), MUFG Bank (Japan), and State Bank of India (India), which were adjudged the best banks in their respective countries.
Commercial Bank Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Sanath Manatunge said: “The last financial year saw the Bank achieve several milestones in performance and break new ground in sustainability, digitisation and initiatives to help SMEs and women entrepreneurs build their businesses.”
“All of this was achieved while managing volatility in the market, and we have ended the year stronger, with our market leadership positions intact.”
The largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka with Group assets of Rs 2.656 trillion, deposits of Rs 2.148 trillion, a loan book of Rs 1.296 trillion and gross income of Rs 341.566 billion as at December 31, 2023, Commercial Bank was also the biggest lender overall, to the country’s Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) sector in 2023.
In selecting the World’s Best Banks for 2024, Global Finance considered factors that ranged from the quantitative objective to the informed subjective. Objective criteria included: growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Subjective criteria included the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry.
