ComBank crowned Best Bank in Sri Lanka for 14 th year by FinanceAsia

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been honoured as the Best Bank among Sri Lanka’s domestic banksfor a remarkable 14 th year by FinanceAsia, one of the world’s foremost information sources on the Asian financial markets.The Best Bank award was presented to Commercial Bank at the FinanceAsia Country Awards gala at the Conrad in Hong Kong. The Bank’s Chief Financial Officer Mr Prasanna Indrajith accepted the award on behalf of the Bank.

This accolade is particularly significant because it is based on the Bank’s performance in a year that required us to manage the impacts of many external factors, including the restructuring of the Sri Lanka International Sovereign Bonds (SLISBs) held by the Bank,” Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge commented. “The exceptional financial results we recorded in 2024 are a testament to the Bank’s prudential approach to managing external challenges and its core banking obligations, and its ability to leverage on operational resilience in difficult times. These are factors that were considered for the FinanceAsia award.”

According to FinanceAsia, leading financial institutions across Asia Pacific continue to navigate uncertain tides and have made waves in the uncertain time. “Not only does geopolitical complexity persist, each market is on their unique mission towards recovery, sustainability, digitalisation, restructuring, or innovation,” the magazine said. “Our awards process celebrates those institutions that showed determination to deliver desirable outcomes, through the display of commercial and technical acumen.”Other Country Award winners ranked alongside Commercial Bank as the Best Domestic Banks in their respective countries at this year’s FinanceAsia awards were City Bank (Bangladesh), Allied Bank (Pakistan), Bank of China (Hong Kong), PT Bank Mandiri (Indonesia), BDO Unibank (Philippines),Techcombank (Vietnam), and United Overseas Bank (Singapore).

The largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka with Group assets of Rs 2.876 trillion, deposits of Rs 2.31 trillion, a loan book of Rs 1.53 trillion and gross income of Rs 274.976 billion as at 31 st December 2024, Commercial Bank was ranked the biggest lender overall, to the country’s Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) sector for the fourth consecutive year in 2024. The Bank continued to be the benchmark private bank in Sri Lanka with the highest market shares among private sector banks in deposits, loans, total assets, market capitalisation, gross income and total capital base.

First published in 1996, FinanceAsia provides readers with the latest financial trends, interviews,features and investigative reports. The company is owned by Haymarket Media Limited, the largest privately-owned publishing group in the UK.Commercial Bank is the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World, is the largest private sector lender in the country, is a leader in digital innovation and is Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon-neutral bank. Commercial Bank operates a strategically located network of branches and automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives, and a Microfinance company in Myanmar. The Bank recently opened a representative office within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), taking a significant step towards broadening its global footprint.The Bank’s fully-owned subsidiary CBC Finance Ltd., also delivers a range of financial services via its own branch network.