NSB Celebrated at CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2025
The 11th annual CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2025, organised by CMA Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange as strategic partner, was held recently at Cinnamon Life, Colombo, with wide participation from Sri Lanka’s corporate, banking and regulatory fraternity.
At this prestigious event, National Savings Bank (NSB) was honoured with the State-Sector Gold Award for Best Annual Report and was also ranked among the “Ten Best Integrated Reports 2025”. This recognition reflects the Bank’s strong commitment to corporate transparency, high-quality disclosure and long-term value creation.
Launched in 2015, the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards encourage companies, state-owned entities and not-for-profit institutions across key sectors including banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, plantations, hospitality, education and SMEs to adopt and improve integrated reporting practices. Over the last decade, the Awards have become a respected benchmark for robust governance, transparency and stakeholder-focused value creation in Sri Lanka.
Integrated reports evaluated by CMA go beyond conventional financial statements. They present a cohesive narrative that links financial performance with governance, risk management, sustainability, strategy and how an organisation creates value over time. This holistic approach, aligned to globally accepted integrated reporting principles, enables investors, regulators, customers and communities to gain a clearer view of an organisation’s true health and future prospects. The 2025 Awards reaffirm that integrated reporting in Sri Lanka is evolving from a disclosure formality into a strategic tool for building resilient, stakeholder-oriented institutions.
For NSB, this latest recognition is a validation of its ongoing efforts to present a clear, credible and comprehensive picture of its operations and responsibilities. In recent years, the Bank has intentionally strengthened its reporting framework to capture not only financial results but also: governance structures and oversight, risk management practices, customer service and digital transformation initiatives, employee welfare and organisational culture, and social and community engagement.
By winning the State-Sector Gold Award and being named among the “Ten Best Integrated Reports”, NSB has demonstrated that it is comparable with leading Sri Lankan institutions in reporting quality and value disclosure. The recognition reinforces NSB’s positioning as a bank that prioritises transparency, accountability and long-term stakeholder trust.
Importantly, the award also sets a benchmark for peer institutions, showing that state-owned banks can match and, in some cases, surpass private sector standards in integrated reporting. In a sector where confidence is critical, such external validation supports investor confidence, reassures depositors and signals to regulators that NSB’s governance and disclosure practices are on a strong footing.
The 2025 CMA Awards ceremony placed particular emphasis on “integrated thinking” encouraging organisations to consider financial, environmental, social and governance factors together, rather than in isolation. This mindset supports long-term value creation by linking strategy, risk, performance and stakeholder needs.
NSB’s success in the state-sector category and its inclusion in the top ten underscores its strong performance in a competitive field of public and private institutions.
The Bank’s example sends a clear message that integrated reporting is equally relevant and beneficial for public sector entities, particularly in finance. As stakeholder expectations around governance, sustainability and responsible conduct continue to rise, NSB’s achievement may encourage other state-owned banks to enhance their own reporting practices.
For depositors and investors, integrated reporting offers a more complete understanding of the Bank’s financial health, risk-management processes, strategic direction and long-term outlook. NSB’s recognition signals a firm commitment to openness and accountability, strengthening confidence among retail customers, institutional investors and other stakeholders.
By openly reporting on non-financial dimensions such as employee welfare, digitalisation, social responsibility and governance, NSB demonstrates that it views performance in a broad sense, not limited to short-term profit. This enhances its reputation as a responsible employer and corporate citizen, building trust among its workforce, customers and the communities it serves.
Each year, a growing number of organisations both public and private are voluntarily adopting integrated reporting. The 2025 Awards highlight how institutions like NSB, together with leading corporates, can help shape a national culture of transparency, accountability and long-term thinking. Over time, this collective progress contributes to stronger capital markets, higher sustainability standards and greater competitiveness for Sri Lankan businesses.
Winning at the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2025 thus reaffirms NSB’s commitment to continuous improvement in governance, reporting quality and stakeholder engagement. Looking ahead, the Bank can build on this recognition by further enhancing its ESG disclosures, sharpening its risk-governance narrative, strengthening stakeholder communications and deepening the alignment between its banking operations and sustainable value creation.
In doing so, NSB not only strengthens its own brand and credibility, but also contributes to raising the overall standard of corporate reporting across Sri Lanka’s financial sector and the wider economy.