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My Report
1920
- Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) opens a Branch in Chatham Street
1957
- EBL was acquired by Chartered Bank
1969
- Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd. (CBC), incorporated with EBL holding a 40% stake
1971
- Business of EBL was completely integrated with Chartered Bank
1972
- First two branches opened in Galewela and Matale
1973
- CBC acquired Galle, Jaffna and Kandy branches of Mercantile Bank Ltd.
1979
- Offshore Banking Centre formed
1980
- Commercial Development Company (CDC) formed to construct Head Office Building for CBC with 40% equity participation
1984
- Head Office moved to new premises at No. 21, Sir Razik Fareed Mawatha, (formerly Bristol Street), Colombo 01
1987
- EBL changed its name to Standard Chartered (UK) Holdings Ltd.
1990
- Introduced ATM facilities to customers
1993
- Introduced core banking software-International Comprehensive Banking System (ICBS)
1996
- Increased shareholding in CDC to 94.5% through a share swap
1997
- Standard Chartered Bank sold its 40% stake in the Bank
1998
- First 365 Day Branch opened in Colombo 07 All branches linked to ICBS (except Jaffna)
2000
- Launched Internet Banking
2001
- Opened the 100th branch at Kaduruwela
2003
- Acquired operations of Credit Agricole Indosuez in Bangladesh
2005
- Raised USD 65 Mn. syndicated loan, becoming the 1st non-sovereign corporate in Sri Lanka to source external funding
2006
- Issued USD 10 Mn. bond, becoming the first indigenous bank to do so
2008
- First Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 Banks in the World
2009
- First Sri Lankan Bank to be certified CMMi
2011
- Commenced “Sharia” compliant Islamic Banking
- Opened 200th branch in Kataragama
- Opened an exclusive “Elite” Branch at Colombo 07 for high net worth customers
- Reached milestone 500th ATM located at the Maradana railway station
2012
- Raised USD 65 Mn., from the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- Launched an exclusive Savings Account for Women named 'Anagi'
2013
- Opened ‘24-Hour Automated Banking Centre’ at Ward Place
- Raised a 10-year subordinated debt of USD 75 Mn. from IFC
2014
- Bank acquired 100% stake of Indra Finance Ltd. Became the first Sri Lankan Bank
- to be granted a license by the Central Bank of Myanmar to operate a Representative Office
2015
- Indra Finance, a fully-owned subsidiary of CBC, renamed Serendib Finance Ltd.
2016
- Commenced Commercial operations of Commex Sri Lanka S.R.L. Italy, our fully owned subsidiary
- Opened Commercial Bank of Maldives Private Limited, 2nd foreign subsidiary with a 55% stake
- The Bank became a Trillion Rupee Asset company
2017
- Commercial Bank of Maldives opened its second branch in Hulhumalé
- CBC Myanmar Microfinance Company Limited., was established as the second fully-owned subsidiary of CBC outside Sri Lanka in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
2018
- Launched the country's first fully-automated cheque deposit machine at City Office Branch in York Street Colombo
- Launched UnionPay cards by a bank in Sri Lanka for the first time, making Sri Lanka the 51st country in the world to issue UnionPay cards
- Introduced Flash Digital Bank Account
2019
- Acceptance of WeChat Pay, one of the leading mobile payment solutions in China, launched in Sri Lanka in partnership with Tenpay Payment Technology Ltd.
- Became PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certified
- “Flash” becomes Sri Lanka’s first multilingual Digital Banking App
- Launched ComBank Q+ Sri Lanka’s first QR based payment app under LANKAQR
- Launched “Yasasa” savings account exclusively for pensioners
- Enabled Dynamic Currency Conversion at ATMs for foreign Visa Cards
- Serendib Finance Ltd., a fullyowned subsidiary of CBC, was renamed CBC Finance Ltd.
- Deposits surpassed Rs. 1 Tn. mark
2020
- Celebrated 100 years of banking in Sri Lanka with a series of events including a staff gathering of unprecedented scale
- Private placement of shares with the IFC for USD 50 Mn.
- Launched “ComBank Digital” powered by Fiserv, the US-based global provider of financial services technology
- Commenced a project to donate smart STEM classes to 100 schools to mark the Bank’s centenary
- The Bank was declared the “Strongest Bank Brand” in Sri Lanka by Brand Finance
- Became Sri Lanka’s first carbon-neutral bank
2021
- UK’s CDC Group commits USD 50 Mn. to bolster SME lending and climate projects
- First private sector bank to achieve the feat of Loan book surpassing Rs. 1Tn., joining Assets and Deposits
- Named once again among global giants in banking, becoming the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked in the “Top 1000 World Banks”, for the 11th consecutive year
2022
- Introduced breakthrough “Tap to Phone” payments acceptance
- Under the environmentlinked commitment, the Bank undertook to reforest a 100-hectare swath of degraded habitat belonging to the Kandegama forest in the Dimbulagala range of the Polonnaruwa District
- Became the only Bank in Sri Lanka to win National Quality Award from Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI)
- Won 50 international awards including the Best Bank in Sri Lanka – Bank of the Year awards from the Banker – UK
2023
- The Bank enabled “Visa Direct” and “Mastercard Send”, the card-based fund transfer facilities for the first time in Sri Lanka
- A long-term Bancassurance partnership was entered into with AIA Sri Lanka, enabling the Bank to leverage AIA’s exceptional capabilities and grow our revenue sources
- Launched a national credit and debit card with international acceptance in collaboration with LankaPay. This is the first launch of LankaPay Credit Cards in Sri Lanka along with five variants of LankaPay cards.
- The Bank launched two platforms to link local businesses to global markets – “Commercial Bank LEAP”, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the independently developed “Trade Club”
- Opened a branch in Anamaduwa, a rapidly developing area steeped in folklore
- Opened a branch in the historic town of Kantale, where the iconic reservoir built by King Aggabodhi II (604-614 AD) and rehabilitated by King Parakramabahu the Great are located
- The omni-channel digital banking platform “ComBank Digital” reached the milestone of one million registered users
- The Bank ranked as the Strongest Bank in Sri Lanka by The Asian Banker
- Embarked on an ambitious nationwide tree planting campaign titled – “Trees for Tomorrow”, to plant 100,000 trees across Sri Lanka in three years, to help achieve the country’s self-defined national climate pledges under the UN Paris Agreement
- Ranked No. 1 on the Business Today ranking of Sri Lanka’s Top 40 business entities in 2022-23. This is the 15th consecutive year it has been ranked by Business Today as not only the best-performing bank in the country, but one of the five best-performing companies in Sri Lanka overall
- The AP (Authorised Person) licence was presented to the Bank by the Colombo Port City Economic Commission, paving the way for the Bank to operate within and from the precincts of the Colombo Port City, offering banking services to investors as well as customers
- The Bank was adjudged “Best SME Bank” and “Most Innovative Digital Bank” in Sri Lanka by the Global Business Outlook
- Won over 100 awards, both local and international, including the Best Bank in Sri Lanka – Global Finance Magazine – UK