Our Journey Over 100 years

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

• The second fully-owned subsidiary of CBC outside Sri Lanka, CBC Myanmar Microfinance Company Limited was opened in Nay Pyi Taw
• Launched the country’s first fully-automated cheque deposit machine at City Office Branch in York Street Colombo
• Introduced Flash Digital Bank Account

2019

• One of the leading mobile payment solutions in China, “WeChat Pay” acceptance launched in Sri Lanka for the first time by CBC with a partnership between 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 fully-owned 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 provided USD 50 Mn. to bolster SME lending and climate projects
• First private sector bank to achieve the feat of Loan book surpassing Rs. 1 Tn., 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