The Bank won the Silver – the highest award presented in its category – at the 12th edition of the BestWeb.lk annual awards ceremony held recently at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo.
Commercial Bank was presented the same award in 2020 and won a Bronze at the 2017 BestWeb.lk competition.
The Gold award was not presented in the ‘Banking and Finance’ category this year.
The relaunch of www.combank.lk last year with features such as trilingual access to content, ultra-smooth interface with interactive multimedia material, enhanced navigation, experience-customisation, smarter search options and tools, and resources that make it extra user-friendly and informative, contributed towards the Bank winning this award.
Commenting on this achievement, Commercial Bank’s Deputy General Manager – Marketing, Mr. Hasrath Munasinghe said:
“Websites often provide the first impression of an organisation’s offering as well as image, and the features and navigation options on the site act like support staff and customer assistants.
Commercial Bank has been acutely cognisant of the evolving digital space it inhabits and has continued to enhance customer service and access to information through technology, digital tools and its website.
This latest award once again reiterates our position as a leader in technology-enabled convenience in the banking sector.”
A panel of judges comprising of ICT Industry experts including academics, professionals and business leaders judged the websites of competing entries on technological expertise, creativity, quality of design, quality and quantity of content, interactivity, community purpose, mobile compatibility, and compliance to standards.
During the final phase of the competition, the public was invited to cast votes via the organiser’s official website.
While metrics such as completeness, navigation and performance were included under the Technical criteria, overall quality of website design including site architecture, navigation ease, consistency and user-friendliness, and quality of individual page design based on overall aesthetics and professionalism factored under the Design criteria.
Meanwhile, the interactivity of the websites was judged based on the quality of interaction they incite with users, and privacy and security features.
Multilingual websites in Unicode standards qualified under the ‘Community Purpose’ criteria.
Further, entries were awarded bonus points for features such as multilingual access, accessibility for disabled persons, use of latest technology, and social media integration, and were penalised for copyright violations.
All websites registered under the .lk domain were eligible to enter the competition.
The LK Domain Registry is the national body that registers domain names ending in “.lk.”
It is an independent non-profit organisation that helps Sri Lankan organisations and individuals create their unique identities on the web.
Launched in 2009, BestWeb.lk is a web-based competition that provides an exclusive opportunity to promote and popularise web presence in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 12 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 268 branches and 940 automated machines in Sri Lanka.
Commercial Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector.
The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.
Photo Caption Commercial Bank's Senior Manager – Marketing Ms Irosha Weththasingha (centre) receives the award from the Head of Digital Media at Express Newspapers Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd. Mr S Ramesh Kumar in the presence of (from left) Commercial Bank’s Senior Web Designer Ms Shyamali Amarasena and Officer – Digital Marketing Mr Gayan Punchihewa and the Manager Partnerships at LK Domain Registry Ms Niroja Jayawardane.