People and Planet First: the strategy behind ComBank’s success

Mr. Kanishka Ranaweera,  Deputy General Manager  - Human Resources Management

In conversation with Mr. Kanishka Ranaweera, Deputy General Manager – Human Resources Management.
At Commercial Bank of Ceylon, success has always been powered by people, and guided by purpose. As Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank pursues its 2025 goals of expanding volume, elevating value, and embracing versatility, human capital remains the most decisive enabler of growth. The Bank’s people strategy is both inclusive and forward-looking, linking performance with wellbeing, and business achievement with environmental and social responsibility.
At the helm of this transformative agenda is Mr. Kanishka Ranaweera, the Bank’s new Deputy General Manager – Human Resources Management, whose cross-sector experience spans a wide range of industries. In this interview, he discusses how Commercial Bank’s HR philosophy translates into measurable impact across its 5,400-strong workforce, creating one of the country’s most progressive and resilient workplace cultures.
Excerpts:
Q: What is your immediate priority as DGM Human Resources Management, and how does HR at Commercial Bank distinguish itself from peers?
Our foremost priority within Human Resources Management is to ensure that the Bank’s people strategy remains fully aligned with corporate ambitions, positioning HR as a strategic driver of business outcomes rather than a purely administrative function. Commercial Bank’s distinct advantage lies in its philosophy of nurturing long-term careers instead of filling short-term roles. The scale and depth of the Bank’s investment in human capital consistently exceed traditional industry practices.
This commitment is anchored by a structured talent foundation, beginning with transparent and merit-based recruitment programmes for school-leavers and graduates entering the Bank as trainees. Progression is guided by clearly defined promotion standards linked to ongoing learning and further strengthened through substantial financial support for professional qualifications. A critical differentiator in the Bank’s approach is its focus on accelerated exposure for high-potential employees. Deliberate cross-functional rotations, project leadership opportunities, and mentorship under senior executives broaden organisational perspective and systematically prepare emerging leaders for higher responsibilities.
These efforts are underpinned by four strategic HR pillars: attracting and retaining top-tier talent; proactive talent development and succession planning; enhancing employee engagement and embedding a high-performance culture; and advancing HR technology and operational excellence. Together, these pillars ensure that the Bank’s people remain at the centre of its long-term strategy, enabling sustainable growth and reinforcing Commercial Bank’s position as the employer of choice within Sri Lanka’s financial sector.
Q: You mentioned learning and development. How do you ensure learning is not just a line item but a driver of promotions and capability?

We treat continuous learning as a strategic capital investment that drives our capability growth and defines our talent pipeline, moving it definitively beyond a line item. Our institution-wide CPD scheme ensures minimum hours are met, evidenced by the increase from 30 to 35 average training hours per employee since 2022. This systematic investment directly impacts careers, as promotions are not merely earned through tenure, but are gated by clear educational and assessment requirements, including mandatory exams and interviews for specific grades; we proactively support this with exam fee reimbursement, honorariums for success, and dedicated revision classes for professional banking examinations. Beyond compliance, we demonstrate our commitment to elite development by offering highly selective Scholarships for High Flyers for advanced academic programmes at top universities. To ensure the curriculum is world-class, we actively maintain strategic partnerships with both recognised local and leading global educational institutions, providing our talent pipeline access to cutting-edge content and international best practices. Ultimately, this comprehensive data feeds back to the top, where Business Heads actively review development metrics to identify and nominate high-performing, compliant talent, ensuring development is the direct, verifiable engine of career progression.
Q: In terms of workplace safety, how does the Bank ensure that it maintains the highest possible standards, especially for women?
 We have embedded a safe workplace culture across all operational locations. This is reinforced by regular safety audits, employee awareness programmes, and protocols that safeguard physical and mental wellbeing. We also follow employee-centric design, creatingworkspaces that encourage collaboration, inclusivity, and comfort while maintaining the highest levels of safety. We actively promote future-ready practices as well,leveraging digitization and innovation to build workplaces that are efficient, resilient, and eco-conscious, in addition to being safe.
Q: The Bank has been vocal about women’s advancement. Can you sum up what success looks like in practice?
At Commercial Bank, every employee is empowered to grow through a culture built on equality, merit, and mentorship. The Bank’s inclusive approach ensures that career advancement, recognition, and learning opportunities are accessible to all, based solely on performance and potential. At the same time, it is not a secret that women often face unique challenges in balancing family and career responsibilities and Commercial Bank has also identified this as an area to concentrate on.
In recruitment, we have achieved a commendable gender balance with new hires in 2023 in 2024. Leadership pipelines are being strengthened. In 2024, we ran an exclusive leadership development programme for 21 female colleagues, including overseas training and personal mentoring by renowned trainers. 
Our maternity and adoption policies are intentionally progressive: comprehensive maternity benefits, special childcare allowances for up to a year, flexible working hours post-maternity, and options for extended no-pay leave. The proof point is a 100% return-to-work rate after maternity leave. The Bank also offers preferential loan facilities and leave support for male employees during the spouse’s confinement, showing inclusivity for both parents.
One noteworthy aspect of our approach is that we have in place programmes that address the specific needs of female employees of different ages and take into account the status of their families as well.
Externally, our ‘Anagi’ Women’s Banking programme and capacity-building initiatives have supported women entrepreneurs. Anagi Women’s Banking portfolio was designed to offer holistic and inclusive financial solutions to women and as at end 2023, women-connected SMEs comprised 51% of our SME loan portfolio, supporting more than 15,000 facilities.
Q: Ethics and conduct are increasingly visible issues. How does HR enforce standards across over 5,400 employees?
Upholding consistent ethical standards across a workforce of more than 5,400 employees begins with robust Board-level governance, which establishes a zero-tolerance culture and sets the ethical tone from the top. HR translates this direction into practice by driving adherence to the Bank’s Code of Ethics and Conduct Risk Management frameworks, ensuring organisational behaviour remains aligned with regulatory expectations and corporate values.
The Bank’s approach is anchored in a strong commitment to continuous awareness building. Mandatory and measurable training programmes reinforce this commitment across all employee groups. In 2024, more than 95% of staff completed core ethics and compliance training, while anti-bribery and anti-corruption modules reached over 75% of the workforce. These training requirements are directly weighted in annual performance evaluations, supplemented by critical role-specific certifications in areas such as Treasury, Information Security, and Audit to ensure both capability and compliance are upheld.
Enforcement practices remain transparent and consistent. Any breach of the Code of Ethics triggers a standardised and expedited disciplinary process, ensuring fairness, impartiality, and visible accountability regardless of rank or seniority. Together, the combination of strong Board-level governance, proactive awareness building, mandatory competency assessments, and non-negotiable consequence management ensures that ethics is not an aspirational statement, but a rigorously upheld standard embedded in the Bank’s daily operations.
Q: Tell us about industrial relations and how HR balances employee voice with business needs.
We believe the cornerstone for healthy industrial relations is our open, transparent, clear, continuous dialogue and communication with employees and, critically, with their unions. This commitment is what builds the essential foundation of trust and mutual respect, enabling us to balance employee voice with the strategic needs of the business.
We ensure employee voice is heard through formal mechanisms and through continuous engagement activities. Formally, we engage in structured negotiation, evidenced by the successful renewal of our Collective Agreement for 2024–2026. This process ensures shared commitments to fair practices and rewards are agreed upon, simultaneously upholding employee rights and supporting the Bank’s operational sustainability. Engagement activities, such as the Seniority Awards for 25 years of service, our sports and cultural events, and the ‘ComBank Super Talent’ show, actively build morale and teamwork. This consistent, two-way communication demonstrates that our relationship is based on mutual respect, which ultimately underpins long-term industrial harmony and stability.
Q: Sustainability features prominently in your mandate. How is HR translating ESG into everyday behaviour?
HR plays a vital role in embedding sustainability. We support the Executive Sustainability Committee and the Sustainability Working Committee to ensure our people strategy aligns with the Bank’s ESG goals. Through our “Future Force” Sustainability Group, employees act as Sustainability Ambassadors, driving grassroots initiatives.
Sustainability is also built into performance evaluations and recognition programmes such as the “Best Sustainable Branch & Department of the Year” award. Our own operations lead by example through green office practices, and digitization of loan and claim processes that reduces paper usage. We also train staff on waste management and circular economy concepts. Sustainability is now part of our work DNA.
Q: Commercial Bank often speaks of lifelong careers. How does HR turn that promise into reality?
We view the promise of lifelong careers as a comprehensive covenant that extends well beyond the professional sphere. Our investment begins at induction, where trainees and graduates receive structured learning, mentorship, and educational support, including loans, postgraduate reimbursements, and professional subscriptions. Our robust promotion standards ensure progression is governed by merit and qualification, guaranteeing a path for everyone from entry-level through to senior management. The tangible reality of a lifelong career is cemented by our commitment to total well-being, which addresses all four dimensions of the employee’s life: Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual. Furthermore, we secure our employees through every life stage with financial safety nets, including wedding, emergency, housing, and vehicle financing. This holistic approach ensures we are supporting people not only as professionals, but as individuals with families and aspirations, turning the lifelong career promise into a stable, enduring partnership.
Q: If you had to define the HR philosophy of Commercial Bank in one sentence, what would it be?
It would be this: we create value by empowering people, for themselves, for the Bank, and for the planet. 
Every initiative we undertake is rooted in that conviction. People are our strength, and through them, we deliver both performance and purpose.Commercial Bank’s HR strategy is more than a framework, it is a living system of support, learning and accountability that evolves with its people. The Bank’s success lies not only in financial performance but in nurturing the human and environmental foundations that sustain it, putting people and planet first, and proving that the two are inseparable drivers of progress.