Commercial Bank gears for rep office in Male
Having established a representative office in Myanmar, the Commercial Bank is now gearing to operate a similar operation in the Maldives, officials said.
“About six months ago, we applied for a banking licence to Maldives and we are awaiting a positive response,” an official told the Business Times. More on foreign expansion, he said that they will open two more branches in Bangladesh, adding the total to 20.
He said that Italy is also in the radar. Commercial Bank tied up with an Exchange House operating in Italy called National Exchange Company some years ago with this many Sri Lankans who earlier relied on various informal channels to remit money started utilizing our e-Exchange Money Transfer System. Realising the potential in this line of business, the bank formed a fully owned subsidiary by the name – Commex Sri Lanka S.R.L. in Italy. “What we’re trying to have now is a fully fledged exchange house in Rome under Commex,” he said, adding that now the bank is now working towards getting a licence from the Italian government.
According to analysts, an additional one-off tax of 25 per cent has been imposed on the profits of the banking group which has earned in excess of Rs.2 billion for the year of assessment 2013/2014, as per the interim budget 2015. One analyst said that the estimated tax liability would cover a total income of around Rs.3.7 billion.