First Sri Lankan bank to received licence:

COMBank scores a second in Myanmar

The Commercial Bank has become the first Sri Lankan bank to be granted a licence by the Central Bank of Myanmar to operate a Representative Office in the South East Asian republic of more than 50 million people.

The Assistant General Manager (Plan Implementation), Commercial Bank, Richard Rodrigo (centre) receives the licence from Director, Financial Institutions Regulation and Anti-Money Laundering Department, Central Bank of Myanmar, May Toe Win. A senior official of the Central Bank of Myanmar looks on.

"We believe that there is further potential to increase bi-Iateral trade between Myanmar and Sri Lanka, and that there is a likelihood of some of Sri Lanka's leading apparel exporters and other industries setting up operations in Myanmar," Commercial Bank's Chairman, Dharma Dheerasinghe said. "The presence of a Representative Office of Sri Lanka's largest private bank would facilitate this process, and be mutually beneficial to the two countries."

Commercial Bank's Managing Director and CEO, Jegan Durairatnam said the Bank is in the process of planning out the services it will offer initially in Myanmar, as well as the timelines for setting up its office.

Commercial Bank envisages that the office will offer advisory services to Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi businessmen wishing to enter the Myanmar market and arrange banking and advisory facilities and funds transfer and encashment services, subject to approval of the Central Bank of Myanmar.

"The banking sector in Myanmar is expanding fast", Durairatnam added.

"By opening a Representative Office, it would also be possible for Commercial Bank to build closer relationships with local banks and offer them its experience in very successfully moving from manual and mechanical systems to high-tech banking."

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Myanmar could follow Asia's fast growing economies and expand at 7-8% a year, become a middle income nation and triple per capita income by 2030.

Myanmar will be Commercial Bank's second overseas operation after Bangladesh, which the Bank entered in July 2003, with the acquisition of the Bangladesh operations of Credit Agricole Indosuez (CAI), Commercial Bank's first ever acquisition of a banking operation.

Today, Commercial Bank's operations in Bangladesh have grown to 18 outlets, and have won numerous awards including a CSR Award from The Bankers Forum in Bangladesh, the Financial Mirror - Robintex Business Award for outstanding performance, the Financial News Services (FNS) Business Award for the 'Best Performing Foreign Bank' in Bangladesh and the ICMAB, National Best Corporate Award.

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.

Commercial Bank operates a network of 239 branches and 605 ATMs in Sri Lanka. 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.