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Honouring excellence: Euromoney recognizes HNB Trade Finance for the 5th year







Strengthening its presence as a leader in international trade services, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, secured four prestigious awards at the renowned Euromoney Awards for Excellence in 2024.

Euromoney bestowed HNB with the prestigious titles of Best Market Leader in Trade Finance Services and Best Service Provider in Trade Finance – both overall and domestic. Having been recognized consistently for the segment, the remarkable achievements consolidates HNB’s position as the only homegrown Sri Lankan bank to be recognized on a global scale.

" Ensuring Sri Lanka's trade thrives is crucial for our country's economy to bounce back. By bringing our trade services together under our Wholesale Banking Group, we've made great strides. Businesses, big and small, now see HNB as their go-to partner for trade finance. These awards are proof of our team's hard work in helping Sri Lankan businesses connect with the world," HNB MD/CEO Jonathan Alles said.

The Euromoney Trade Finance Survey, a highly regarded industry benchmark, meticulously evaluates trade finance products and services at a global, regional, and country level. With over 25,000 respondents including corporates, cash managers, treasurers, and finance officers worldwide, this survey highlights the exceptional standards set by the recipients.

“Being declared winners at the Euromoney awards for the 5th year in a row is a remarkable achievement. I want to thank my entire team for their unwavering dedication. Their commitment is at the core of our continuing success. Moving forward we will continue to focus on delivering best-in-class services, while leveraging technology, and unrivaled technical expertise to ensure that the needs of our trade finance customers are always effectively and efficiently fulfilled” HNB Deputy General Manager- Wholesale Banking Group, Damith Pallewatte said.

Equipped with one of the largest pool of Certified Documentary Credit Specialists among Sri Lankan banks, HNB employs highly skilled professionals, amalgamating innovative technology with unmatched technical expertise, to provide simple user-friendly solutions for complex transactions, risk mitigation, and trade finance, encapsulating the end-to-end process of a trade transaction, leading to greater confidence amongst the bank’s trade customers. Certified as ISO 9001 2015, HNB is a one-stop-shop trade services provider with a fully-fledged International Trade Services arm under the bank’s Wholesale Banking Group (WBG) vertical. The Trade team is committed to delivering fast, efficient, reliable, and comprehensive solutions for every stage of a client’s trade value chain, to support clients’ evolution in line with the ever-changing cross-border and domestic trade requirements.

With 254 customer centers, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative private banks. Consolidating its legacy in sustainability, good governance, and corporate excellence, HNB was crowned the Best Corporate Citizen for 2022 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Best Corporate Citizen Awards. Other major accolades include being adjudged the “Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka” for the 13th occasion by the Asian Banker, being declared the “Best SME Bank” by Asiamoney Magazine, as well as securing a Top 5 position on Business Today’s Top 40 rankings for 2023.

HNB was ranked among Sri Lanka’s Top 10 Most Admired companies in 2022 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka. HNB was also recognized for its service excellence in trade services at the Euromoney Awards, taking home the prestigious titles of Best Market Leader in Trade Finance Services and Best Services Provider in Trade Finance Services, both globally and domestically.