The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won the coveted ‘Service Brand of the Year’ and three other accolades at the 2014 SLIM Brand Excellence Awards to become the bank that won the most awards at this prestigious event conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.
Sri Lanka’s largest private bank took the Golds in the ‘Service Brand’ category and in the ‘Best New Entrant’ category for its ‘Anagi’ Savings Account for Women, as well as the Silver in the ‘Best Local Brand’ and the Bronze in the ‘CSR Brand of the Year’ categories in a dominant showing at this annual gala.
“There can be no better acknowledgement of the emphasis we place on service excellence than to be adjudged the best overall in the Services sector in Sri Lanka,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Mr Jegan Durairatnam said.
“This award reaffirms that we are committed to continuously update and improve our processes and product offering to give the best to our stakeholders. All the hard work put in at many levels to build our corporate image, as well as our holistic approach to marketing have clearly paid off. These awards for Brand Excellence are a tribute to the passion of the entire Commercial Bank team.”
The ‘Service Brand of the Year’ is one of the six main categories (Product Brand of the Year, Service Brand of the Year, Innovative Brand of the Year, Turnaround Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year and Export Brand of the Year) awarded annually by SLIM. The scores achieved in these categories are evaluated by the judges to decide on the Brand of the Year award.
In the Special Awards categories, Commercial Bank’s Gold for ‘New Entrant of the Year’ recognises the success of the ‘Anagi’ Savings Account developed exclusively for women and launched in late 2012. The new account offers an interest rate over the normal savings rate, one of the best rates in the savings account category for women, Gold Loans at a concessionary rate and a Commercial Bank Shopping Debit Card.
It was launched by Commercial Bank in recognition of the fact that women are shouldering an increasing number of responsibilities while heading more and more Sri Lankan households, resulting in the economically active female population undergoing rapid growth.
The Silver in the highly competitive ‘Local Brand of the Year’ category acknowledges the strength of the Commercial Bank as a wholly home-grown corporate brand not only in the Banking sector but across all sectors of business in both the ‘Products’ and ‘Services’ segments.
“This award speaks to the extent to which Commercial Bank has won the hearts and minds of Sri Lankan consumers, competing against local brands across the entire spectrum of commercial activity,” the Bank’s Deputy General Manager – Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe said.
In the sphere of Corporate Social Responsibility, the Bronze awarded to Commercial Bank recognises the impact of the multi-faceted community initiatives undertaken by the Bank on its brand value.
These initiatives include the Bank’s nationally-scaled programme of donating computer laboratories to schools, a project to supplement English language classes in rural schools, the annual presentation of scholarships and laptops to undergraduates, the donation of medical equipment to hospitals around the country, assistance to war heroes, projects to promote and conserve the country’s cultural heritage, and emergency assistance in times of flood or drought.
Commercial Bank’s flagship community initiative in the sphere of IT Education has resulted in 150 IT Labs donated by the Bank benefitting an estimated 150,000 children to date.
Significantly enhancing the value of these IT Labs, the Bank recently launched an innovative online education programme under which more than 46,000 children from 46 schools are now accessing carefully selected mathematics and science lessons via a specially created web platform, to supplement their regular lessons in these subjects.
Held for the 13th successive year, SLIM Brand Excellence Awards honour the brand building efforts of organisations. It is a keenly contested event and this year the entries reached an all time high of over 100 applications from more than 40 industries. Many leading brands vied for the 12 awards on offer at the awards ceremony held at the BMICH.
Ranked the ‘Strongest Bank in Sri Lanka in 2014’ by The Asian Banker and the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for four consecutive years, Commercial Bank is also the most valuable private sector brand in the country in 2014.
The bank has won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank over several years, was adjudged one of the country’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and has been rated the Most Respected Bank in Sri Lanka by LMD for the past 10 years.
It has also been the second Most Respected Corporate entity in the country overall for the past four years in the LMD rankings, and has been rated No 1 in Sri Lanka for Honesty in 2013 and 2014 by the Magazine.
Photo Caption : Commercial Bank's Deputy General Manager Marketing Hasrath Munasighe and Senior Manager Marketing Iresha Degamboda (second right and extreme right) receive the Service Brand of the Year award from SLIM President Kalana Ratnayake.