Asian Banker crowns ComBank & MD Manatunge as ‘Sri Lanka’s Best’ in landmark recognition

Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Sanath Manatunge received the two awards from The Asian Banker

In a landmark recognition of industry leadership and resilience, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has been crowned the ‘Best Managed Bank in Sri Lanka,’ while its Managing Director/CEO, Sanath Manatunge, has earned the coveted title of ‘Best Bank CEO in Sri Lanka’ from the influential The Asian Banker magazine.

These accolades, awarded only once every three years, distinguished their outstanding performance and strategic direction throughout the challenging 2022-2024 period, cementing their premier status within the nation’s financial sector.

The accolades were presented at The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards ceremony held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event coincided with the 2025 edition of the Asian Banker Summit, a major annual gathering for financial services professionals across the Asia-Pacific region. Manatunge was conferred with the ‘Best Bank CEO’ award in recognition of his leadership during a period of substantial economic volatility in Sri Lanka. Commercial Bank affirmed that his strategic decisions were instrumental in navigating challenging macroeconomic conditions and enhancing the bank’s resilience and market position. During the assessed period, Commercial Bank highlighted several key achievements contributing to these awards. These included substantial capital augmentation through a Rs. 22.54 billion rights issue and a Rs. 20 billion debenture issue, enhancing capital adequacy. The bank also maintained its position as Sri Lanka’s largest lender to the SME sector for the fourth consecutive year and launched the Commercial Bank LEAP GlobalLinker, an SME business ecosystem.  Advances in digital banking were notable, with its host-to-host payment services boosting corporate efficiency and the ComBank Digital platform exceeding 1.5 million users and processing over Rs. 4 trillion in transactions annually. The bank also underscored its environmental commitment by completing the planting of 100,000 trees annually.

Manatunge was recognised alongside prominent bank Chief Executive Officers from Baiduri Bank of Brunei, Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong, Mizuho Financial Group of Japan, and OCBC of Singapore. These institutions were also the recipients of the ‘Best Managed Bank’ awards for their respective countries. Techcombank of Vietnam was additionally honoured within this category.