The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been adjudged the ‘Most Innovative Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka’ in 2019 by a leading business magazine in London, acknowledging the Bank’s focus on meaningful innovation in processes and service delivery.
By conferring this award on Commercial Bank at the Business Tabloid Banking Awards, Business Tabloid magazine recognised the Bank as a player at international level, purely on the merits and expertise it has demonstrated in the industry.
“With technology revolutionising the way products and services are accessed and used, innovation is no longer an option, but something that the new generation customer expects,” Commercial Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Mr Sanath Manatunge said. “Banks in particular have to make innovation a part of their corporate culture, and awards of this nature recognise how successful Commercial Bank is in providing innovative solutions to the needs of its customers.”
Commercial Bank’s track record of introducing innovations that make banking more convenient and accessible to its customers can be attributed to its selection for this honour. The Bank’s cutting edge products and services include Online Banking and Mobile Banking, SMS Banking, mobile phone cash top-up, overseas SWIFT money remittance services, innovative Automated Banking Centres, self-service touch-screens in branches, Automated Instant Cash and Cheque Deposit Machines along with ATMs which offer extensive utility bill payment facilities in addition to cash withdrawals.
Among the innovative feats of the Bank specific to the concluded financial year were the introduction of ‘Flash,’ Sri Lanka’s first fully-fledged Digital Bank Account; the launch of UnionPay cards in Sri Lanka; acceptance of ‘WeChatPay’ in the country and joining ‘AliPay’ to facilitate QR code based payments, especially beneficial to Chinese tourists; the launch of Tokenised Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to Sri Lanka; facilitating a mobile remittance channel between South Korea and Sri Lanka; enabling Credit Card settlements via an Internet Payment Gateway; joining RippleNet, a global payments network that leverages Blockchain technology to enable both inward and regulator-enabled outward Blockchain technology-powered remittances; and becoming the first bank in Sri Lanka to have its point-of-sale network accept LankaPay-JCB (Japan Credit Bureau) co-branded cards.
Other banks that won awards at the ‘Business Tabloid Banking Awards 2019’ included Coutts & Co, United Kingdom; Diamond Trust Bank, Tanzania; UBS, Switzerland; Open Bank, Spain; Deutsche Bank, Philippines; Citigroup Inc., New Zealand; Fimbank, Malta; ICICI Group, India; MayBank, Brunei; Ghazanfar Bank, Afghanistan; and Bank Aljazira, Saudi Arabia.
The Business Tabloid Awards are open to companies of all sizes across the globe regardless of location, size, and ownership. Nominations for the awards are evaluated based on various criteria such as innovations, accomplishments, and contributions of an organisation.
Business Tabloid is a print and online news magazine built for the current fast-paced generation looking for encapsulated, accurate and informative content. It provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of an array of industries, international business, and global economy.
The only Sri Lankan Bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 banks for nine years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 266 branches and 846 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won multiple international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and over 40 international and local awards in 2018.
Commercial 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.