With a vision to be the most technologically advanced, innovative and customer friendly financial services organisation in Sri Lanka, poised for further expansion in South Asia, Commercial Bank is a leading banking sector entity in the country. And with a record for setting industry trends, powered by state-of-the-art technology and a highly dynamic team, the bank’s performance stands testament to innovation driven growth. Ranked the strongest bank brand in Sri Lanka for the third consecutive year in 2022 by Brand Finance, it stands strong and resilient amidst challenges and changes in the financial services landscape.

Q: How is the formula for corporate respect changing in the face of current developments in the country?
A: Corporate respect is garnered through continued demonstration of commitment to best practices, stable and outstanding performance, and by ‘walking the talk.’ The current challenging conditions in the country are certainly putting a strain on organisations’ efforts to keep their standards high whilst grappling with a multitude of socioeconomic issues.

Sanath Manatunge
Managing Director/CEO

The external environment is changing so rapidly and businesses have to adopt, adjust and alter their short-term plans accordingly. Consumers are expecting a lot of empathy from organisations and remain vigilant as to whether their changing needs, lifestyles and consumption habits are understood – and acted upon – in a timely manner.

Therefore, the formula for corporate respect will keep changing in terms of how customer focussed organisations are, and how they will create value for consumers – even during challenging times. Intense focus will be on sustainable business practices where organisations can benchmark against regional success stories. Organisations need to have empathy in understanding evolving customer needs – especially in the rapidly changing socioeconomic context.

Q: How important are stakeholder perceptions – and why?
A: Stakeholder perceptions are of great importance to a business and more so in the financial industry, given that finance-based decisions are very sensitive in nature with far-reaching consequences. Therefore, negative perceptions about a single institution – irrespective of whether its accuracy is confirmed or not – could harmfully affect the entire industry.

This is why the same strategic focus that is applied to manage your business should be applied to handle its corporate reputation as well.

Positive perceptions are not achieved overnight but through many years of hard work to do the right thing.

Organisations have to ensure the perception created is equivalent to the actual experience enjoyed by stakeholders, supported by a solid foundation of performance.

Your internal stakeholder perceptions matter as much as comparable external factors. Commercial Bank is humbled to have been selected by people as the most respected bank in Sri Lanka for the 18th successive year, which speaks volumes about their perceptions regarding us.

QUICK-FIRE ROUND

Three recommendations to revive Sri Lanka’s economy
Have policy consistency – especially in sectors critical to economic growth and stability.
Protect and encourage the export sector, as well as import substitutes industries, to grow.
Ensure financial services industry stability after possible government debt structuring.

Three most admired global business leaders
Elon Musk
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs

Q: How can corporate respect help organisations see themselves through times of crisis?
A: An organisation with a strong corporate image and respect will be more resilient due to loyal stakeholders and the availability of resources to weather the storms. This loyalty and the ‘brand love’ of stakeholders who trust the organisation will ensure that they are more receptive and tolerant towards challenging conditions.

However, it does not make one immune from such forces. Facing a crisis will be the ultimate test an organisation faces and the continued support of stakeholders can only be ensured through how ethical, objective and customer centric it will remain throughout the journey.

Commercial Bank Chairman Prof. A. K. W. Jayawardane (centre) and Managing Director/CEO Sanath Manatunge (2nd from right) receive the Gold Award for ‘Best Common ATM Enabler of the Year’ at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2022 ceremony.

Q: What are the main attributes of your bank’s image?
A: We consider stability, trust and integrity to be the three key attributes of our corporate image.

As the most profitable and largest private sector bank, as well as the strongest banking brand in Sri Lanka, we believe that these attributes have contributed immensely to our success.

The quality of products and service, our teams’ unwavering dedication to serving customer needs and our commitment to those of the community are also attributes of the bank’s corporate image.

With a rich history of over a century, Commercial Bank has been associated with stability, financial strength, service quality, technology and rock solid dependability since its inception. Armed with its principle virtue of trust, the bank is geared to battle the challenging times ahead for Sri Lanka.

Telephone 2486000  |  Email info@combank.net  |  Website www.combank.lk