Friday Nov 29, 2024
Friday Nov 29, 2024
Friday, 29 January 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has moved up to second place in the latest ‘LMD 100’ after a solid performance in 2019-20 saw the bank achieving the No. 2 spot in the two principal rankings – Turnover and Profit – to reaffirm its position as one of the country’s strongest business entities.
Commercial Bank is once again the highest-ranked bank in the Top 10 of this prestigious list of corporate giants, is ahead of many diversified conglomerates and has the distinction of being ranked among the Top 10 every year since the ranking was first published in respect of 1993-94.
The LMD’s primary ranking is based on turnover, but the magazine also ranks companies by sector as well as by total assets, profit after tax, shareholders’ funds, market capitalisation, earnings per share, dividends per share and many other performance indicators.
Commenting on the bank’s ascent to No 2 in the LMD 100, Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan said: “The year of assessment for this ranking was a difficult one, even though it preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. Impairment provisioning had begun moving up, and business sentiment was affected by several factors including the Easter Sunday attacks. To be ranked the second best-performing corporate entity in the country overall is therefore an extraordinary achievement that reflects the intrinsic strength of Commercial Bank and its team.”
The LMD 100 ranking encompasses many of the country’s leading conglomerates, telcos, retail giants, insurers and other sector leaders, as well as listed banks.
The largest private sector commercial bank and third largest bank in Sri Lanka, the Commercial Bank Group ended 2019 with the performance milestone of gross income surpassing Rs. 150 billion for the first time, while at Bank level, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC reported PBT of Rs. 22.339 billion and PAT of Rs. 17.025 billion.
The first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 10 years consecutively, Commercial Bank, which won more than 25 international and local awards in 2020, operates a network of 268 branches and 885 ATMs in Sri Lanka.
Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the bank has a fully-fledged Tier I bank with a majority stake.
