Commercial Bank of Ceylon

Yet another solid all-round performance in 2002, which led to a recent upgrade of its long-term debt to AA+, has enabled the Commercial Bank of Ceylon (CBC) to take home the award again this year.

While its competitors in Sri Lanka stumbled, CBC had a good 2002, raising net profit by almost 20% and maintaining its ROE at around 17%. There were significant gains in assets and Tier 1 capital as well, while efficiency, as measured by a cost-to-income ratio of around 55%, remained high.

The bank spent $1m to upgrade its main IBM server, enabling it to increase the speed and efficiency of all transactions. It also expanded its internet banking service for retail customers, enabling them to make payments of insurance premiums, public works bills and credit card bills online. CBC also launched an online funds transfer facility.

Amitha Gooneratne, CBC chief executive, said: “All of us at Commercial Bank were elated by our nomination as the Bank of the Year Sri Lanka 2003 for the third successive time. If reaching the top was difficult, staying there had tested each and every one of our staff even more and all credit to them.”

PLEASE ENTER YOUR DETAILS TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

All fields are mandatory

The Banker is a service from the Financial Times. The Financial Times Ltd takes your privacy seriously.

Choose how you want us to contact you.

Invites and Offers from The Banker

Receive exclusive personalised event invitations, carefully curated offers and promotions from The Banker



For more information about how we use your data, please refer to our privacy and cookie policies.

Terms and conditions

Join our community

The Banker on Twitter