Commercial named ‘best bank in Sri Lanka’ for 15th year by Global Finance

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has set yet another record, winning the ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ title for the 15th consecutive year, in an annual ranking published by Global Finance magazine for the past 20 years.

The magazine’s list of the 22 ‘Best emerging markets banks in Asia,’ selected after an in-depth survey, is to be published in its May 2013 issue.

Among those ranked alongside Commercial Bank in the worldwide Global Finance list are HSBC of Hong Kong, ANZ Group of Australia, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, HDFC Bank in India, Deutsche of Germany, BNP Paribas of France, Barclays UK and Bank of America of USA as winners in their respective regions.

Commenting on the award, Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Ravi Dias said: “This recognition by Global Finance is a welcome affirmation of our strength in the banking industry of Sri Lanka. An accolade of this nature greatly encourages the team.”

The Global Finance survey covers the best banks in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, developed Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. The magazine’s editors, with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants, select the best emerging market banks annually. Cambodia was added to the list for the first time this year.

Criteria for choosing the winners included growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products.

Subjective criteria include the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry. The mix of these factors selects leading banks that may not be the largest, the oldest or the most diversified in a given region, but rather the best; the banks with which companies around the world would most likely want to do business.

Announcing the 2013 winners, Global Finance publisher Joseph Giarraputo said: “These are the banks that are providing best-in-class solutions for these distinctive markets.”

Global Finance’s best bank awards will be presented at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. during the annual World Bank/IMF Meetings in Washington.

Founded in 1987, Global Finance has a circulation of more than 50,000 and is read in 163 countries. The magazine’s audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers and other senior financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Global Finance also targets the 8,000 international portfolio investors responsible for more than 80% of all global assets under professional management.

Commercial Bank is the largest private bank in Sri Lanka, and the only Sri Lankan bank to be listed two years consecutively in the world’s top 1,000 banks. It operates a network of 230 service points in Sri Lanka and a network of 560 ATMs – the single largest ATM network operated by a bank in the island. The bank has also won multiple awards as the country’s best bank from ‘The Banker’, ‘FinanceAsia’, ‘Euromoney’ and ‘Trade Finance’ magazines.