The Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has emerged the Strongest Bank in Sri Lanka in 2017, according to the Asian Banker magazine, and has once again been ranked among the 500 strongest banks in the Asia Pacific region on Balance Sheet evaluation.

Presenting the coveted accolade to Commercial Bank on the side-lines of the annual SIBOS Convention in Toronto, Canada, Asian Banker said: “The bank had strong liquidity and capital adequacy ratios, which demonstrated a sustainable balance sheet for the financial year as compared to other banks in the country. With a strength score of 3.08, Commercial Bank of Ceylon holds the top spot for the banks in Sri Lanka.”

The Asian Banker award is based on a detailed and transparent scorecard compiled and analysed after an independent assessment of six areas of balance sheet financial performance – the ability to scale, balance sheet growth, risk profile, profitability, asset quality 
and liquidity.

The Asian Banker 2017 ranking of the 500 strongest banks in the Asia Pacific region includes banking giants such as Bank of China (Hong Kong) which topped the ranking, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Macau), HSBC, Bank of Taiwan, Hang Seng Bank, OCBC Bank (Singapore), Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) China Construction Bank Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (Japan), and DBS 
Group (Singapore).

Commenting on this latest international ranking accorded to the bank, Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam said: “This award is an important independent affirmation of our ability to maintain our core strengths despite challenges. Asian Banker has also stressed the point this year that we have performed well despite substantial pressure on banks in the region to maintain profitability.”

In its own assessment of the rankings, Asian Banker noted that in general, the Asia Pacific banking sector delivered better results in this year’s ‘The Asian Banker 500’ (AB500) ‘Strongest Banks by Balance Sheet’ evaluation, which it said is the most comprehensive annual evaluation that captures the quality and sustainability of the balance sheets of the banks in the region. The magazine however observed that “Despite the strength of their balance sheets, Asia Pacific banks continue to face massive challenges in growing profits, a conundrum created by modern capital rules.”

The Asian Banker has been publishing its annual ranking of the Strongest Banks in the Asia Pacific region on the basis of balance sheet strength since 2007. The assessment ranks the top performing banks in each country by strength, an evaluation that is based on a belief that a strong bank demonstrates long-term profitability from its core businesses. The ranking is widely followed by investors, analysts and the media as the leading source to assess the financial strength of commercial banks in the region.

Commercial Bank is the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for seven years consecutively, and operates a network of 256 branches and 697 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won more than 25 international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and has over the years received multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s Best Bank, Best Trade Bank, Strongest Bank and Most Respected Bank from a number of local and international institutions and publications.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets, Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon, the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake and Italy, where the Bank operates its own money transfer service.