ComBank awarded its 20th ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ title by Global Finance

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been declared Sri Lanka’s Best Bank in 2020 by the US-based Global Finance magazine, an accolade the Bank wins for the 20^th time in the 27 years that Global Finance has presented awards to the world’s best banks.

Global Finance’s just-released list of the 28 Best Banks in Asia Pacific has Commercial Bank ranked alongside banking behemoths such as the Commonwealth Bank (Australia), Westpac New Zealand, ICBC (China), The Bank of East Asia (Hong Kong), and State Bank of India, which were adjudged the best banks in those countries, the Sri Lankan bank said in a media release.

Award winners are judged on both objective and subjective criteria, and selections are made by the editors of Global Finance after extensive consultations with corporate financial executives, bankers and banking consultants and analysts throughout the world. In selecting these top banks, Global Finance considered factors that ranged from the quantitative objective to the informed subjective.

Commenting on the award, Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan said, according to the release: “Our focus right now, is on assisting in the recovery of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is most encouraging to see that our achievements of 2019, also in challenging conditions, have been recognised with one of the most coveted awards in the sphere of banking. Such accolades will provide further motivation to our team to maintain the high standards of the bank even in times of adversity.”

Referring to Commercial Bank in its announcement of the Best Banks in the Asia Pacific region, Global Finance commented: “Commercial Bank of Ceylon weathered the twin challenges of higher taxation and impairment charges in 2019, plus the adverse effects of last year’s April terrorist attacks, to deliver a solid 12% ROE off the highest gross income of any Sri Lankan bank. Deposits grew a solid 5% and interest income rose 11.2% to facilitate a 7.4% rise in total operating income.”