21 April 2017 09:59 am
A record Rs 23.9 billion in cash flowed out of the automated teller machines (ATMs) of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon in the first 14 days of April as Sri Lanka’s largest private bank facilitated the celebration of the Avurudu season in characteristic style.
Comprising of 658 terminals, the network processed 3.51 million withdrawal requests over the fortnight at an average of 250,757 transactions a day, once again reaffirming its reliability, the bank said.
Transactions peaked on 7th and 8th April and on 11th and 12th April, with the network dispensing a mammoth Rs 9.723 billion on those four days alone, after processing 1.3 million requests for cash at an average of 327,076 per day.
On 10 of the 14 days considered, the Commercial Bank dispensed more than Rs 1.5 billion per day through its ATM network, with the highest value of Rs 2.79 billion, a new record for cash dispensed in a single day,being set on 7th April.
“Usage of digital banking platforms like ATMs continues to grow year on year, emphasising the importance of capacity and dependability,” Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Jegan Durairatnam said. “Our ATM network recorded an impressive 99.6 percent uptime in 2016, and it is not surprising that it continues to set records during peak shopping seasons.”
The previous record for cash withdrawals in a single day was set by Commercial Bank on 8th April 2016, when users of the bank’s ATM network, then at 625 terminals, withdrew Rs 2.504 billion.
Sri Lanka’s largest and most profitable private bank and the country’s most-awarded financial institution, Commercial Bank also plays a significant role in the national economy. The bank has assets in excess of Rs 1 trillion and accounts for 4.31 percent of the total market capitalisation of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) with a market capitalisation of US$ 790 million at end 2016. The Bank is the largest lender in Sri Lanka to SMEs, having disbursed Rs 952 billion to the sector over the past five years, and channels 17.82 percent of the country’s export volumes and 8.36 percent of its import volumes.