ComBank fetes Lankan forex dealers in Qatar

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently felicitated a group of Sri Lankans employed in exchange houses in Qatar for popularising the Bank's remittances services in the State.

Over 200 Sri Lankans interacted with each other at the Grand Mecure Hotel, Doha.

Qatar, which employs around 125,000 Sri Lankans, is a key market for Commercial Bank's remittance products. Qatar has a substantial expatriate worker population and 20 exchange houses to cater to the money remitting needs of this workforce. Commercial Bank currently has four Business Promotion Officers stationed in the country.

Commercial Bank is one of the most active players in Sri Lanka in the field of remittances, offering customers a range of options including 'e-Exchange' - the Bank's own sophisticated real-time on-line money transfer service, MoneyGram, Ria and Express Money remittance services.

One of the Bank's key strengths is its island-wide network of 250 branches, many of which remain open on public, bank and mercantile holidays, and its network of 625 ATMs, which is the largest automated cash dispensing system owned by a single bank in Sri Lanka.

Recipients of remittances sent to the Bank enjoy many benefits such as over 60 holiday banking centres and supermarket counters, a dedicated customer support call centre for remittances and SMS alerts facilities when the remittance is received and is ready to be paid out.

Commercial Bank's overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 18 branches and Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon.

In September last year, the Bank received regulatory approval to set up a full-fledged Tier I Bank in the Maldives. The Bank also received a licence to operate a fully-owned Money Transfer Operation in Italy recently.