The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been crowned the Best Bank in Sri Lanka in 2020 by Euromoney, one of the world’s leading financial magazines, at its Asia Awards for Excellence. This is the sixth time that Commercial Bank has been honored with this prestigious accolade by Euromoney.
The Euromoney awards are based on detailed submissions from market participants and extensive year-round research into the banking and capital markets in the region by the magazine’s editors, journalists and research team.
Other criteria included the size of the organization, although the size was not the emphasis, profitability, the ability to demonstrate growth, an outperformance against peers, and the ability to adapt to changing market conditions and client needs.
Each Bank was required to highlight its performance over the 12 months in consideration and its demonstrated ability to meet strategic targets, and provide updates on reaching milestones in previously announced initiatives.
Alongside financial performance, banks were asked to include details of their digital banking strategies and their approach to issues such as cybersecurity and corporate social responsibility.
Contributing factors to Commercial Bank’s win included the Bank ending 2019 with total assets of Rs 1.4 trillion, gross income of Rs 150 billion, a net profit of Rs 17.4 billion, a deposit base of Rs 1.07 trillion and net loans and receivables of Rs 930.7 billion.
Commercial Bank also achieved the highest profitability, highest credit rating, highest deposit base, largest lending portfolio, and the highest return on average shareholders’ funds amongst all private sector banks in Sri Lanka.