FinanceAsia crowns ComBank as Best Bank again

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been adjudged the Best Bank among Sri Lanka’s domestic banks by FinanceAsia, considered the world’s foremost information source on the Asian financial markets.

This accolade was conferred on Commercial Bank at the 27th FinanceAsia Country Awards gala at the Ritz Carlton in Hong Kong on June 28. Notably, Commercial Bank was the first Sri Lankan bank to be honoured at these awards and has won the Best Bank award 12 times.

Other Country Award winners ranked alongside Commercial Bank as the Best Banks in their respective countries at this year’s FinanceAsia awards were CICC (China), HSBC (Hong Kong and South Korea), CTBC (Taiwan), and Allied Bank (Pakistan).

Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO, Sanath Manatunge said: “Sector-leading financial performance is, of course, fundamental to the Best Bank award, but what makes this award particularly significant is that it looks beyond the figures to assess factors like strategy, customer service, business development, ESG compliance and customer centricity.”

Assessments for the FinanceAsia Best Domestic Bank awards covered the performances of banks in 2022, a period the magazine said was impacted by supply chain woes, energy disruptions, geopolitical tensions, interest rate hikes and uncertainty.

“The FinanceAsia team invited banks, brokers and ratings agencies to showcase their capabilities to support their clients as they navigated these uncertain economic times,” FinanceAsia said.

Among the factors that contributed to Commercial Bank’s victory was its achievement of the highest asset base, highest deposit base,

largest lending portfolio, highest net profit, and highest gross income among private sector banks in Sri Lanka in the year assessed, as well as its recording the best CASA ratio among all banks in the country, and its position as the bank with the highest market capitalization on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).