The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has emerged as the biggest supporter of the dreams of home builders in Sri Lanka, achieving market leadership in the ‘Home Loans’ sector.
The Bank has announced that its home loans portfolio grew to Rs 72.965 billion as at 31st March 2024, and achieved the number 1 place.
Notably, Commercial Bank is the first private sector bank to become the market leader for home loans in Sri Lanka.
Commenting on this latest milestone, Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager – Retail Banking and Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe said: “One of the strongest bonds in banking is the one between home builders and the banks that support their aspirations. This is a key focus area for us, and the Bank has developed multiple lending options for this segment, generating steady growth in its home loans portfolio despite the challenging economic environment.”
Commercial Bank Home Loans are available for purchase of bare land, a house, apartment, construction of a house, completion of a partially-built house, renovation of or an extension to an existing house, and for settlement of an existing home related loan. Besides its General Home Loans, the Bank has a separate loan scheme for first time home buyers and builders as well as Green Home Loans and Foreign Currency Home Loans.
A first in Sri Lanka, Commercial Bank’s 'First Time Home Buyers & Builders' scheme offers a free or discounted Decreasing Term Assurance Policy (DTAP) covering the loan, thereby eliminating or reducing the burden of the cost of the loan protection insurance at a time when construction costs are rising. Commercial Bank’s Green Home Loan is another first-of-its-kind product in the market, which enables financing of both Green Building Council certified projects as well as other green initiatives including residential solar installation at the best interest rates coupled with other concessions.
Commercial Bank also pioneered ‘Flexible Home Loans’ options, which include Residual Home Loans and Step-up Home Loans. These options have been designed for applicants whose repayment capacity is inadequate or exceed 60% of the total remuneration, when the monthly instalment is calculated under traditional methods, such as EMI (Equated Method Instalment) and Reducing Balance Methods.
Under Residual Home Loans, customers can repay part of the capital of the loan and postpone the repayment of the balance. As in the case of Step-up Loans, tailor-made, graduated repayment plans are offered, after evaluating the applicant’s present and projected income.
Additionally, the Bank offers a five-year grace period for professionals and high net worth individuals, where they can pay only the interest during the grace period and thereafter commence the repayment of capital together with interest, under any available method of repayment such as Equated Monthly Instalment, Reducing Balance Method or Step-up Home Loans, whichever best suits each borrower.
Commercial Bank is the largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka and the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World. The Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector, and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. Commercial Bank operates a strategically-located network of branches and 966 automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan Banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, and a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives.