ComBank Maldives honoured for Excellence in Finance at Maldives Business Awards

The Commercial Bank of Maldives (CBM), a subsidiary of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, has been honoured with the award for ‘Excellence in Finance’ in the Banking and Finance category at the 2019 Maldives Business Awards in just its third year of operation.

The awards recognise business excellence and the introduction of revolutionary and innovative services and reward local corporations and individuals for maintaining industry best practices. The awards program is organised by Blazon Inc., a full-suite Public Relations, Marketing and Business Development agency in the Maldives.

Contributing to Commercial Bank of Maldives winning this award is the fact that it has been able to capture a sizeable market share while delivering customer friendly solutions to meet the needs of both the retail and corporate segments. The bank broke even within a short span of six months of operations and recorded profit before tax of MVR 42.57 million (Rs. 490 million) for FY 2019. The asset base of CBM stood at MVR 1.63 billion (Rs. 18.7 billion) at the end of 2019.

Commenting on the award, CBM CEO and Managing Director Dilan Rajapakse said: “This is our first and therefore a milestone award, and a precursor to many more such accolades in the future. We are especially proud because the bank has emerged victorious after competing with well-established local and international banks in the Maldives within just three years. We thank all our customers in the Maldives for their trust and confidence.”

All entities that received awards under one of the 29 categories of the Maldives Business Awards were assessed on the aspects of Research and Development, Company Growth, Products and Services, Market Development, Sales and Marketing, Community Service, Innovation, Employee Engagement, Customer Management, and CSR.

The panel of judges consisted of prominent personalities in the Maldivian financial sector inclusive of former Planning Minister and now Ambassador to Singapore Hamdun Abdulla Hameed, Bank of Maldives former Chairperson and Asian Development Bank Consultant Saeeda Umar, former Finance Minister, and Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Ahmed Maazin.

Launched in 2018, the Maldives Business Awards’ objectives include recognising excellence and creating healthy competition amongst businesses, promoting innovation and business intelligence, showcasing outstanding achievements by business community, and recognising the process by which individuals and businesses excelled in their respective sectors.

Commercial Bank of Maldives commenced operations on 26 September 2016 and currently has two branches in the Maldives. Commercial Bank of Ceylon holds a majority stake in the bank along with Tree Top Investments Ltd., a leading conglomerate in Maldives. 

The bank has followed a strategy of providing access to its services through the integration of modern technology and infrastructure to serve the growing consumer and business needs in the market. CBM has said it aims to be the most technologically advanced, innovative, customer friendly and most sought-after financial services organisation in the Maldives.

Besides its fully-fledged Tier I Bank in the Maldives, Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets and Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon and a Microfinance company in Nay PyiTaw.