The Commercial Bank of Ceylon was honoured with five awards at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2019, Sri Lanka’s only payment technology innovation awards presented for the third consecutive year.
The Bank won two Gold awards for ‘Best Acquirer on LankaPay Online Payment Platform’ and ‘Payment Application of the Year,’ a Bronze award for ‘Excellence in Interbank Payments’ and two Merit awards for ‘Bank of the Year for Financial Inclusivity under category A’ and ‘Bank of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience under category A.’
The Gold award for Best Acquirer on the LankaPay Online Payment Platform was based on the highest transaction acquiring volume and aggressiveness in the joining process. This was the second consecutive year that Commercial Bank won this award.
The Gold award for ‘Payment Application of the Year’ was presented in respect of ComBank Online, the Bank’s comprehensive and user-friendly Online Banking platform and was in recognition of the highest number of interbank transactions processed through the application.
The award for Financial Inclusivity was for the highest aggregate growth volume increase compared to the previous year on the common ATM switch, as well as real time/non-real time interbank transactions and cheque payments.
The award for Excellence in Customer Convenience was based on the highest combined product-wise growth percentage compared to the previous year for electronic fund transfer products.
The Bank said with more and more millennials and other customers focused on convenience, it has embraced all digital and mobile technologies and continues to invest in these channels. As a result, the Bank’s systems were upgraded and new technological aspects were introduced together with innovative digital platforms and services such as Online Banking, Mobile Banking, e-passbook, Cash Deposit machines, Cash Recycle Machines, Self Banking Kiosks,and the Flash Digital Bank Account among others.
With the continuous improvements to its digital platform, a high percentage of customers now perform their banking activities such as viewing their account details, investments, payments and settlements, fund transfers and applying for loans via the Bank’s Online and Mobile banking platforms. ComBank Online offers a versatile service to both personal and corporate customers and is one of the most popular online platforms in the country.
The Bank’s latest digital innovation is the Flash digital account with trilingual capability which enables opening of accounts digitally, as well as versatile and flexible payments, investments, savings, budgeting, payment requests, group payments, receiving of actionable alerts, online health insurance and 24X7 banking through mobile phones to suit generations X & Y and the elderly segment that cannot visit the bank physically for banking activities.
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon was the first Bank in the country to enable its entire automated teller machine (ATM) network to acquire and process ATM transactions through the EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) integrated circuit, and the first to activate its entire EMV chip card base (Debit and Credit cards) to perform secured EMV transactions through the LankaPay ATM network, making it possible for the Bank’s own cardholders to securely perform transactions using other bank ATMs connected through the LankaPay network.
Commercial Bank is also one of the first banks in Sri Lanka to have its point-of-sale (POS) network accept LankaPay-JCB (Japan Credit Bureau) co-branded cards issued under the national card scheme programme. This follows the integration of Commercial Bank and the LankaPay Common POS Switch System enabling the Bank to acquire JCB cards, the only international payment brand originating from Japan. The Bank recently announced a network-wide upgrade of its ATMs to channel JCB card transactions to JCB International via the national card switch LankaPay.
Commercial Bank won five awards and three awards respectively, at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards held in 2018 and at the inaugural event in 2017.
The LankaPay Technnovation Awards presentation is organised by Lanka Clear (Pvt) Ltd., the operator of LankaPay national payment network. The initial shortlisting of institutions eligible for awards was carried out based on the performance of individual banks, non-banking financial institutions and Fin Tech service providers, against set criteria.
Lanka Clear is owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and all Licensed Commercial Banks operating in the country. The company offers multiple solutions not only for the banking sector but also across all industries that are ready and willing to adopt/integrate to the latest digital technology driving Sri Lanka toward an efficient, green, and paperless nation.
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 267 branches and 854 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank won over 40 international and local awards in 2018, has received more than 25 awards to date this year, and been ranked among the 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka in 2019.
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.