Commercial Bank in World’s Top 1000 Banks for 5th successive year

• Becomes only Sri Lankan bank to achieve this feat

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has once again been ranked among the Top 1000 Banks of the World, in the prestigious rankings published annually by ‘The Banker’ magazine of the UK, becoming the only Sri Lankan bank to achieve this feat five years in a row.

The ranking is based on the bank’s key performance indicators for FY 2014. Commercial Bank has moved up 39 places in the 2015 rankings.

The Top 1000 Banks of the World are ranked on the basis of Tier I capital, assets, capital assets ratio, pre-tax profits, return on capital, return on assets, BIS (Basel) Capital ratio, NPL to total loans, loans to assets ratio, risk weighted assets (RWA) to total assets (TA) ratio and cost income ratio.

The Top 1000 World Banks ranking is compiled from a database of over 5,000 of the world’s biggest banks and is acknowledged by the global financial community as the definitive guide to bank rankings and analysis. Begun in 1970, the ranking is widely used all year roundby senior bankers, corporate treasurers, corporate financiers, the professional services community and many others in their day to day decisions relating to banking.

“Commercial Bank has always emphasised the importance of consistency in performance. We are therefore delighted to be the only Sri Lankan bank to make the Top 1000 rankings for five years consecutively,” said the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Jegan Durairatnam. “The conditions we operate in are challenging and changeable, so achieving KPIs that are on par with other leading international banks, reflects well on the strength and stability of the bank.”

The top three positions in the 2015 ranking of the World’s Top 1000 Banks remain unchanged from the previous year, with ICBC (China), China Construction Bank and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (USA) ranked first, second and third respectively. Four of the top 10 banks are from China, four are from the USA, while the UK and Japan have one each in the top 10.

The Banker is published by Financial Times Business, which is the specialist publishing and conferences arm of the FT Group.

In the year reviewed for the 2015 rankings, Commercial Bank reported profit before tax of Rs. 15.7 billion, a loan book of Rs. 463.6 billion, deposits of Rs. 529.4 billion, gross income of Rs. 74.4 billion, assets of Rs .795.6 billion and Tier I Capital Adequacy Ratio of 12.93%.

Commercial Bank operates a network of 243 branches and 613 ATMs in Sri Lanka. Ranked the most valuable private sector brand in the country in 2014, the bank was adjudged the Best Bank in Sri Lanka by Finance Asia in 2015. 

Commercial Bank has also won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank from other international publications over several years. The bank was adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and 2014, and has been rated the Most Respected Bank in Sri Lanka by LMD for the past 10 years. The bank has also been the second Most Respected Corporate entity in the country overall for the past four years in the LMD rankings, and has been rated No. 1 in Sri Lanka for Honesty in 2013 and 2014 by the magazine.