The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has once again been ranked among the Top 1000 Banks of the World, retaining its status as the only Bank in the country to be on this elite list for nine years consecutively.
The Top 1000 Banks of the World are ranked by the UK’s ‘The Banker’ magazine on Tier 1 Capital and includes additional data points such as Pre-Tax Profits, Total Assets, Capital Assets Ratio, Return on Capital, Return on Assets, BIS (Basel) Capital Ratio, NPL to total loans, Loans to Assets Ratio, Risk Weighted Assets (RWA), Density and Cost/Income Ratio, to provide an overall view of their soundness, profitability, asset quality and operational efficiency.
Commenting on Commercial Bank’ sinclusion in this global ranking, the Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Mr S. Renganathan said: “Consistency is an important virtue in business, especially in the banking sector, and being independently assessed alongside the giants on the world stage is an excellent way to benchmark our performance during a period of challenge. Commercial Bank’s ability to remain in the Top 1000 for nine straight years is an affirmation of the solid growth the Bank has achieved year on year, despite the volatile conditions in Sri Lanka.”
In its announcement of the Top 1000 World Banks in 2019, the Banker magazine noted that “While the global banking system is undoubtedly safer a decade on from the height of the financial crisis, years of a low-volatility bull market along with several sharp shocks rocked many lenders in 2018. Shrinking assets in Europe and central Asia, lacklustre profits everywhere but North America and an uncertain economic environment point towards a slowdown.”
The top four positions in the 2019 global ranking are held by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China.
For the year ending 31st December 2018, Commercial Bank reported total assets of Rs 1.3 trillion, gross income of Rs 138 billion, net profit of Rs 17.5 billion, a deposits base of Rs 983 billion and net loans & receivables of Rs 861.1 billion.
In terms of Capital Adequacy Ratios, the Bank’s Total Tier 1 capital ratio (with capital buffers) at 11.338% as at 31st December 2018 was well above the 8.875% required under Basel III. The Total Capital Ratio of 15.603% at the end of the year was also comfortably above the Basel III requirement of 12.875%.
The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks 2019 provides comprehensive intelligence about the health and wealth of the global banking sector. The ranking includes data on more than $123 trillion of assets in 94 countries.
Compiled from a database of over 5,000 of the world’s biggest banks and acknowledged by the global financial community as the definitive guide to bank rankings and analysis, The Top 1000 World Banks ranking was begun in 1970, and provides in-depth global banking data and analysis for banks, consultants, regulators, vendors, corporates and investors.
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon operates a network of 266 branches and 846 ATMs in Sri Lanka and has won more than 40 international and local awards in 2018. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon and a Microfinance company in Nay PyiTaw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.