Commercial Bank opens landmark 250th branch in Sri Lanka

Above: Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe inaugurates the bank’s 250th branch in the presence of Managing Director Jegan Durairatnam, Chief Operating Officer S. Renganathan and senior officials of the bank. Below: The new Automated Banking Centre at Orion City

The Commercial Bank’s history of service to the people of Sri Lanka reached another milestone this week with the opening of the bank’s 250th branch in the country.

Located within the Orion City complex at Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 9, the new branch represents the bank’s commitment to deploy the latest in secure technology to enhance convenience to customers and promote eco-friendly operations.

Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe formally inaugurated the new branch.

Modelled on the Automated Banking Centre set up by the bank at Ward Place, Colombo 7, this self service branch will facilitate real time cash deposits, sending of requests for account opening and loans, cheque deposits, access to the bank’s online banking facility, fund transfers, cash withdrawals, bill payments and will also provide information services such as branch locations and interest rates throughout the day.

The new branch will also be staffed by two people to provide other assistance that customers may need.

“The Commercial Bank of today is unrecognisable from the bank that opened its first branch at Galewela 47 years ago,” the bank’s Managing Director/CEO Jegan Durairatnam said. “While we remain steadfast in our commitment to the ideals that drive the business, processes, technologies and customer needs have completely transformed banking, and the ever-growing concern for our planet drives further change in the way services are delivered.”

Powered by a 24-hour, high-speed secure internet connection, Commercial Bank’s ‘automated branches’ offer opening of savings accounts and fixed deposits, access to online banking, and settlement of credit card dues, as well as deposits and withdrawals via an ATM. They help customers save time by filling out the necessary documentation for opening of accounts at their leisure and completing the process by visiting a Commercial Bank branch for verification and to pick up passbooks or other documents and make initial deposits.

The bank’s paperless deposit machines eliminate the need for deposit slips and envelopes, as they have a stacker than can accept and count up to 200 notes at a go, enabling customers to make deposits of up to Rs 200,000 at a time into savings or current accounts, 24 hours of the day. The same machine can also be used to pay dues on Commercial Bank credit cards.

Commercial Bank has also achieved a significant reduction in the use of paper by actively promoting the migration of customers from traditional banking channels to digital platforms such as mobile and online banking. 

The bank’s other environment-related initiatives include programmes to reduce its carbon footprint through energy saving, energy optimisation and responsible fleet and vehicle management, responsible disposal and recycling of materials, responsible water consumption, the discontinuation of the use of products that emit ozone-depleting substances and  protecting the bio diversity in areas where branches are present.

Additionally, the bank has begun converting branches to solar power to further reduce their carbon footprint.

The expansion of Commercial Bank’s physical presence across the country over the last two-and-a-half decades saw the bank’s 50th branch opening at Dambulla, its 100th at Kaduruwela, 150th at Mahiyangana and the 200th at Kataragama.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for five consecutive years, Commercial Bank operates a network 625 ATMs in Sri Lanka, the largest electronic cash dispensing facility owned by a single bank in the country. The bank was ranked the most valuable private sector brand in Sri Lanka in 2014 and has also won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank from a number of 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.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 18 branches and Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon. In September 2015, the Bank received regulatory approval for the establishment of a fully-fledged Tier I Bank in the Republic of Maldives. The bank also received license to operate a fully owned money transfer operation in Italy recently.