The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been recognised as the Best SME Bank in Sri Lanka in 2025 by Global Finance, honouring the bank with this title on the international stage for the third consecutive year.
Announcing the latest winners of this prestigious accolade, Global Finance said they are banks and financial services providers that best serve SMEs’ specialised needs, and that the magazine’s editors selected the World’s Best SME Banks 2025 based on objective and subjective factors.
Recognised alongside Commercial Bank as the Best SME Banks in their respective countries were institutions of the calibre of Bank of America – USA; Lloyds Bank – UK; Commerzbank – Germany; Credit Agricole – France; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group – Japan; DBS – Singapore; HSBC – Hong Kong; HDFC – India; and Dutch-Bangla Bank – Bangladesh.
Commercial Bank has recorded remarkable growth in its SME portfolio, increasing the segment’s contribution to the Bank’s overall advances portfolio and expanding its market share. This growth is supported by the sector’s diversification, and the dedicated products and services offered by the Bank.
Among the recent initiatives of Commercial Bank to support SMEs are the launch of ‘Commercial Bank LEAP GlobalLinker’ and ‘ComBank Trade Club’ both of which are intended to help businesses penetrate global markets.
Commercial Bank LEAP|GlobalLinker is a digital ecosystem powered by GlobalLinker, an international business enabling platform that reaches markets in 150 countries. Commercial Bank has brought more than 13,000 customers onboard and created 700 e-stores for businesses on the Commercial Bank LEAP|GlobalLinker platform.
Commercial Bank also has an exclusive Biz Club for SME customers. The first of its kind in the country, the Biz Club brings SME customers together in order to create new business opportunities, and to provide them support beyond lending, by way of education, networking, and expert advice from relevant authorities. More than 6,250 SMEs are now members of the Commercial Bank Biz Club.
Meanwhile, ComBank Trade Club is a forum that provides networking opportunities for businesses to exchange ideas and knowledge about opportunities arising in local and international markets, identify and source the technical know-how needed to penetrate new markets, and find ways overcome obstacles to expanding capacity or development of new products.
Besides all of these initiatives, Commercial Bank has conducted more than 2,200 financial literacy programmes, benefitting about 15,000 of the Bank’s MSME customers.
Founded in 1987 and headquartered in New York, Global Finance has a circulation of 50,000 and readers in 193 countries and territories. Global Finance’s audience includes senior corporate and financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions.
Commercial Bank is the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and has the highest market capitalisation in the Banking Sector in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The Bank is the largest private sector lender, the largest lender to the SME sector, is a leader in digital innovation and is Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon-neutral bank. Commercial Bank operates a strategically located network of branches and automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives, and a Microfinance company in Myanmar. The Bank’s fully-owned subsidiary CBC Finance Ltd., also delivers a range of financial services via its own branch network.
Photo caption:
Commercial Bank Assistant General Manager – Personal Banking Ms Mithila Shamini accepts the Global Finance award in London on behalf of the Bank.
