History | Commercial Bank

1920

The Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) opened a branch in Chatham Street

1957

The share captial of EBL was acquired by the Charted Bank

1969

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd. was incorporated with Eastern Bank holding 40% of its equity

1971

The business of the Eastern Bank was taken over by the Chartered Bank

1972

First Commercial Bank Branch Opened at Galewela

1972

Mercantile Bank Opens in Jaffna

1973

The Galle, Jaffna and Kandy branches of the Mercantile Bank Ltd. were acquired by the Bank

1979

The Foreign Currency Banking Unit (FCBU) was formed

1980

Commercial Development Company Ltd. (CDC) was incorporated to construct a Headquarters for the Bank with a 40% equity participation

1984

Opening of the Commercial Development Company New Building

1984

The Headquarters of the Bank was shifted to ‘Commercial House’, No. 21, Bristol Street (now known as Sir Razik Fareed Mawatha), Colombo 01

1987

Eastern Bank Ltd. changed its name to Standard Chartered (UK) Holdings Ltd.

1988

An associate company, Commercial Leasing Company Ltd. was formed

1990

Introduced ATM facilities to its customers

1993

Introduced the Core Banking Software - International Comprehensive Banking System (ICBS)

1994

Bank celebrated its 25th anniversary

1996

Shareholdings in Commercial Development Company Ltd. increased to 94.55% through a share swap

1997

Standard Chartered Bank sold its 40% stake in the Bank

1998

Opening of Commercial Bank 50th Branch in Dambulla

1998

365-day branch at Colombo 07 was opened. All branches except Jaffna were linked to the ICBS

1999

Best Bank in Sri Lanka award 1999

1999

Banking and supermarketing were combined by opening the first ‘MiniCom’

2000

Online Banking was launched

2001

Opened the 100th branch at Kaduruwela and the Gold Trading Unit at the Foreign Branch

2003

Commercial Bank Social Responsibility Trust was set up

2004

Commercial Bank Social Responsibility Trust was set up

2005

Raised US $ 65 Mn. two-year syndicated loan with an option to extend it for a further year at the option of the lender, the first such loan by a non-sovereign corporate in the country. Introduced the first mobile ATM in the country.

2006

Raised US $ 10 Mn. by issuing a five-year bond, the first of its kind by an indigenous bank in Sri Lanka. Opened 150th branch at Mahiyanganaya

2008

Sold off its 30% stake in the equity of Commercial Leasing Company PLC., Became the first Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’

2009

Became the first and only Bank in Sri Lanka to be CMMi certified

2010

Installed its 400th ATM at the Ruwanwella branch adding 50 ATMs during the year

2010

Received 12th ‘Best Bank’ Award from Global Finance

2011

Installation of 500th ATM at the Maradana Railway Station

2011

Became the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’ for the 2nd time.

2012

Won Euromoney’s Best Bank award

2012

Became the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’ for the 3rd time and for the 2nd consecutive year. Raised as US $ 65 Mn., from the International Financial Corporation (IFC)

2012

Donated landmark of 50th IT Lab to President’s College Sri Jayawardenapura, Kotte

2013

Became the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’ for the 4th time and for the third consecutive year.

2013

Raised US$ 75 million from the IFC as a ten year Subordinated Term Debt that qualifies for Tier II Capital

2013

Adjudged as the ‘Best Local Trade Bank in Sri Lanka’ by ‘Trade Finance (UK)’ for 4th time since Trade Finance began presenting this award since 2009

2014

Bank installed its 600th ATM at the Gold Centre branch

2014

Bank acquired the ownership of Indra Finance Ltd

2014

The 2013 Annual Report of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC won two key awards at the Best Presented Annual Report Awards presented by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) including the Gold award for the Winner in the Private Sector category

2014

Adjudged ‘The Strongest Bank in Sri Lanka in 2014’ by The Asian Banker, a leading provider of strategic intelligence on the financial services industry

2014

Adjudged as Sri Lanka’s ‘Best Bank’ for the 16th consecutive year by one of the world’s most respected financial publications, ‘Global Finance (USA)’

2014

Became the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the ‘Top 1000 Banks in the World’ for the 5th time and for the fourth consecutive year

2014

Adjudged as Sri Lanka’s ‘Bank of the Year’ by the respected UK-based ‘The Banker’ Magazine

2014

Adjudged Runner-Up at Best Corporate Citizen awards

2015

240th branch Opened in Nochchiyagama

2015

Launched paperless Green Banking facility

2015

Begun Myanmar operations with opening of Yangon office

2015

Received FinanceAsia Best Bank Country Award

2015

Received Euromoney’s Best Bank in Sri Lanka award

2016

Sri Lanka’s first Remittance Card has been launched by the Bank to introduce a new dimension in convenience to the process of transferring funds from overseas to local beneficiaries.

2016

Sri Lanka’s first Remittance Card has been launched by the Bank to introduce a new dimension in convenience to the process of transferring funds from overseas to local beneficiaries.

2016

Commercial Bank of Maldives, a subsidiary of Commercial Bank of Ceylon and a joint venture with Tree Top Investments Maldives, formally inaugurated its banking operations in the Maldives

2016