Commercial Bank shines at Annual Report Awards

Friday, 13 December 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Wins four awards, including Best Annual Report overall, Best in the Banking sector and Best Management Commentary. The Commercial Bank of Ceylon dominated the 2013 Annual Report Awards of the Institute of Charted Accountant of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), winning the topmost award for the Best Annual Report across all sectors and three category awards, reaffirming its superiority in the sphere of financial reporting and corporate disclosures. The 2012 Annual Report of Sri Lanka’s largest private bank received the Cyril Gardiner Memorial Trophy for Overall Excellence

in Financial Reporting, the Edmund J. Cooray Memorial Trophy for the Best Annual Report among banking institutions, the Gold award for Management Commentary and the Silver award for Corporate Governance Disclosure at this prestigious event. Since 2001, Commercial Bank’s Annual Report has been adjudged the best in Sri Lanka seven times and the bank has won the award for the best Annual Report in the banking sector nine times. “The Annual Report is the single most important document that a public listed business produces, and we are naturally elated to once again be adjudged the best in Sri Lanka by the most authoritative professional body in this sphere,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Ravi Dias said. “To be considered a benchmark for financial reporting not just in the banking sector but across the entire corporate sector is a fitting reward for the team that compiled the annual report, and a testament to the bank’s commitment to transparency.” Themed ‘Banking on You’ the award-winning 2012 Annual Report of Commercial Bank is a 472-page volume. The web and mobile versions of the report can be accessed at www.combank.lk. Strict compliance with legislative requirements The CASL awards reflect Commercial Bank’s effectiveness in communication of financial and non-financial information to stakeholders and its strict compliance with legislative requirements and accepted accounting best practices. In evaluating reports for the awards, CA looks at the organisation’s ability to effectively communicate organisational objectives, highlights, performance, personnel and management to an intended audience. Held since 1964, the CA Annual Reports competition is considered a platform which encourages excellence in the presentations of information covering transparency, social accountability and good governance among diverse Sri Lankan business entities in the field of financial reporting. On 26 November, Commercial Bank received the award for ‘Governance,’ the award for ‘Education’ in the Long Term Projects category, a merit award for ‘Infrastructure’ and was adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens at the 2013 Best Corporate Citizen awards presented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Earlier this year, the Bank won its 15th ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ award from Global Finance, its 4th ‘Best Trade Bank’ award from Trade Finance, was rated No 1 in LMD’s ‘Employers of Choice’ ranking and was ranked among the world’s top 1,000 banks for a third successive year. Additionally, the bank’s Chief Risk Officer was adjudged ‘Chief Information Security Officer of the Year’ at the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) Global CISO Forum in USA. The most internationally-lauded financial institution in the country, Commercial Bank operates a network of 235 branches and services points and an ATM network of 585 terminals, the largest electronic cash dispensing facility owned by a single bank in Sri Lanka.