Commercial Bank rewrites ATM withdrawal records

• Dispenses Rs. 23.9 b in first 14 days of April

 A record Rs. 23.9 billion in cash flowed out of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of Commercial Bank of Ceylon in the first 14 days of April as Sri Lanka’s largest private bank facilitated the celebration of the Avurudu season in characteristic style.

Comprising of 658 terminals, the network processed 3.51 million withdrawal requests over the fortnight at an average of 250,757 transactions a day, once again reaffirming its reliability, the Bank said.

Transactions peaked on 7 and 8 April and on 11 and 12 April, with the network dispensing a mammoth Rs. 9.723 billion on those four days alone, after processing 1.3 million requests for cash at an average of 327,076 per day.

On 10 of the 14 days considered, the Commercial Bank dispensed more than Rs. 1.5 billion per day through its ATM network, with the highest value of Rs. 2.79 billion, a new record for cash dispensed in a single day being set on 7 April.

“Usage of digital banking platforms like ATMs continues to grow year on year, emphasising the importance of capacity and dependability,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Jegan Durairatnam said. “Our ATM network recorded an impressive 99.6% uptime in 2016, and it is not surprising that it continues to set records during peak shopping seasons.”

The previous record for cash withdrawals in a single day was set by Commercial Bank on 8 April 2016, when users of the bank’s ATM network, then at 625 terminals, withdrew Rs. 2.504 billion.

Sri Lanka’s largest and most profitable private bank and the country’s most-awarded financial institution, Commercial Bank also plays a significant role in the national economy. The bank has assets in excess of Rs. 1 trillion and accounts for 4.31% of the total market capitalisation of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) with a market capitalisation of $ 790 million at end 2016. 

The bank is the largest lender in Sri Lanka to SMEs, having disbursed Rs. 952 billion to the sector over the past five years, and channels 17.82% of the country’s export volumes and 8.36% of its import volumes.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the bank operates 19 outlets, Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon, the Maldives, where the bank opened a fully-fledged Tier I Bank in September 2016 and Italy, where the bank launched its own money transfer service in November 2016.