ComBank wins dual honours at Int’l Finance awards

Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been honoured on the international stage with two more prestigious awards, being adjudged ‘Best Green Bank’ and ‘Best Private Bank’ in Sri Lanka by International Finance Magazine (IFM) of the UK, which is read in over 185 countries worldwide.

The Best Green Bank award recognises the catalytic role Commercial Bank has played in promoting environmental sustainability through its lending for renewable energy projects and other initiatives that help reduce the environmental footprint of its clients, as well as the bank’s own efforts to make its operations eco-friendly.

The International Finance Best Private Bank award is presented to the banks which have introduced innovative banking products and offer a wide range of services to its customers, regardless of size, public or private status. The assessment covers a wide spectrum of indicators including a range of services offered, profitability, client relationship, innovative banking solutions, management excellence and contribution to society, CSR, innovation, wealth management solutions, net income, global private banking assets under management and net new assets.

“This has been a year of awards for Commercial Bank,” commented the bank’s Managing Director and CEO Jegan Durairatnam. “The culture at Commercial Bank discourages resting on one’s laurels and instead advocates constantly looking for ways to serve our customers better. The many international and local awards we have won in 2017 affirm the importance of this approach and are a tribute to the passion and professionalism of the entire team.”

This is the second successive year that Commercial Bank has been honoured by International Finance. In 2016, the bank was declared the ‘Best SME Bank’ in Sri Lanka by IFM for “making a significant difference and adding value and achieving the highest standards of innovation and performance’ for small and medium enterprise clients.”

Among the international banks recognised in different categories at this year’s IFM Awards are Standard Chartered Bank (in Bangladesh), MayBank (in Cambodia), Al Ahli Bank and Gulf Bank (Kuwait), Banco Nacional Ultramarino S.A. (Macau), United Bank of Africa and First Bank of Nigeria (Nigeria), Habib Bank (Pakistan), DBS Bank (Singapore) CTBC Bank (Taiwan) and Maritime Bank and Sacombank (Vietnam).