Commercial Bank of Ceylon
The changing of the guard at a systemically important Sri Lankan bank can be alarming even in the best of times. But throw a political and economic crisis into the mix and the situation becomes even more fraught.
Sanath Manatunge took over as chief executive at Commercial Bank of Ceylon in May, succeeding Sivakrishnarajah Renganathan on his retirement.
The good news is that Manatunge is an old hand at Commercial Bank of Ceylon, having worked there for more than three decades, most recently as its chief operating officer. The even better news is that the lender’s core small and medium-sized enterprise business is in solid shape.
The latter is important for the broader economy because SMEs represent more than 80% of businesses and provide 35% of the jobs in Sri Lanka.
So it helps that Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s commitment to SMEs is unlikely to waver under the new management. Rather, the lender has been adding greater nuance to its SME business, winning Asiamoney’s award for the best bank for SMEs in 2022.
Commercial