Door-to-door deliveries of letters of credit (L/Cs) have helped Commercial Bank of Ceylon win the Best Trade Finance Bank in the Sri Lanka category for the third year in a row at the 2020 Asian Banker Transaction Awards.

The bank won the award in recognition of its achievements in trade finance, payments and cash management.

Trade finance offerings

As well as its door-to-door L/C service, some of the products and services offered by the bank that contributed towards its winning this award included its online Sri Lanka Ports Authority Payment Gateway and the 'Biz Club' established for small- and medium-sized enterprises engaged in trade.

Other offerings singled out by the judges included import documents and guarantees, financing of offshore business operations of local companies, and organisation of awareness programmes for trade-related clients.

Award criteria

Innovative product offerings introduced in the year to support trade finance operations included the provision of foreign exchange market and economic updates, simplified provision of online exchange rates on trade deals, and the transfer of credit evaluation and approvals processing to a new separate unit.

The winners of the Best Trade Finance Bank awards are determined through a combination of surveys, interviews, and field research by The Asian Banker's research staff assessing over 200 submissions from financial institutions across the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.