People's Bank (Sri Lanka)

'''People's Bank''' is a state-owned commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Established on 1 July 1961, it has its head-offices at  Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner Street in Colombo.  The bank offer both retail and corporate banking services, with a network of 739 local branches, service centers and has an asset base of LKR 1.873 trillion (2019) with over 14 million customers. People's Bank received a high national long-Term Rating of AA+ by Fitch Rating.
* 2011 The Bank celebrated the Golden Jubilee on 1st July 2011. Total branch network reached 714 whilst ATM locations increased to 382 covering almost all parts of the island. The Bank obtained an upgraded rating of AA form Fitch Ratings. The Bank's total assets, total deposits and total loans and receivables surpassed LKR 663 billion, LKR 539 billion and LKR 478 billion respectively. The highest recorded profit before tax of LKR 15.3 billion and a profit after tax of LKR 10.2 billion were achieved. People's bank won the SLIM-Nielsen Peoples's Award for the Most Popular Bank in the Sri Lankan Banking and Financial Services Sector, the SLIM-Nielsen People's Award-Service Brand of the Year, and also won the Bronze for the Service Category at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2011.
* 2012 The total branch network reached 728, whilst ATM location increased to 420 covering almost all parts of the island. The Bank obtained an upgraded rating of AA+ for Fitch Ratings. The Bank's 2011 Annual Report won one Grand Award and three Gold Award in the National Category at the 2012 International ARC Award.
* 2013 23 SME centers were established across the island. Surpassed one million cards milestone during the year with access to over 30 million Visa accredited merchants globally. Corporate customers were provided with an on line real time payment facility for PET, ETF and Customers Duty Payments. People's Bank become the first bank to be connected to the National Common ATM Switch. ATM locations increased to 460 with the branch network expanding to 735. LKR 5 billion worth Debentures issued during the year at the Bank's fourth Debenture issue.    
* 2014 The Bank's asset base crossed one trillion rupees, as the second largest bank in the industry (after BOC). Bank garnered the triple accolades of "Bank of the Year 2014" at the European Global Banking and Finance Award-Sri Lanka 2014 and "Most Sustainable Bank Sri Lanka" at the World Finance Banking Awards 2014.
* 2015 The Bank commenced an ambitious digitization initiative with the objective of enhancing its customer value proposition, generating operational efficiencies and strengthening risk management capabilities. Accordingly, the Bank upgraded its ATM network platform to increase security and reliability to customers. Investments were also made in upgrading the Core Banking System, data warehousing the Core Banking System, data warehousing capabilities and POS infrastructure. The Bank launched a Green Banking Concept in demonstrating its sustainability commitments. Successfully rolled out to the Bank's Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, which is expected to further fortify the Bank's market position and deliver long-term value to its stakeholders.
* 2016 The Group achieved the rupees one trillion milestones in both deposits and advance during the year, the only financial services group to achieve two trillion rupee feats in single year. The Bank was awarded the "Best Banking Group in Sri Lanka" and the "Most Sustainable Bank in Sri Lanka"  by World Finance Banking Awards for the third consecutive year. It was also adjudged the 387th largest Banking in Asia. In line with its digitization drive, the Bank launched self-banking centers computerizing  cash deposit machines (CDM), ATMs and kiosks in seven locations in Colombo, effectively catering to customers' increasing demand for convenient financial solutions and seamless banking. The Bank launched a new logo to reflect the Bank's evolution in keeping pace with new global trends and catering to the fast changing aspirations of customers.          
* 2017 The consolidated contribution towards national economic development via taxation, special levies and dividends over the last ten years surpassed the LKR 150 bullion mark. Additionally, the Bank received a new capital infusion pf LKR 5 billion for the first time in the past eight years. The Bank witnessed many firsts in the Digital and information Technology sphere, with the opening of Sri Lanka's first fully-digitalis-ed branch in Colombo and receiving the prestigious ISO/IEC 27001:2013 quality certification for Information Security Management first any State Bank in the nation. the 400th Largest Bank in Asia as per the Asian Banker Magazine and included in the World's Top 1000 Banks by the Banker Magazine (UK). Locally, People's Bank was crowned "Country's Best Bank in 2017" at the National Business Excellence Award and was recognized as the  second most valuable Sri Lankan brand by the global brand consecutive year, the Bank was conferred the exclusive "People's Service Brand of the Year" and "People's Banking Service Provider of the Year" Award at the SLIM-Nielsen People's Award in 2017.
* 2018 LKR 10.9 billion syndicated loan facility extended to Hayleys for the acquisition of Singer Sri Lanka which it the single largest transaction of a listed company in Sri Lanka in recent time. Six alternative digital channel were launched during 2018 for the benefit and ease of customers namely People's Wave mobile banking application, People's Web/Internet banking, People's Wyn-internet banking and mobile app. for corporate clients, RLOS-Retail Loan Origination System and CLOS-Corporate Loan Origination System. Among the many finance apps in the country, People's Wave has become the most downloaded fiance app in Sri Lanka. For the 12th consecutive year, the bank was awarded the "People's Banking Service Provider of the Year". The Bank also secured the top spot as "The Banking of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience" at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2018. Further, People's Bank won the "Excellence in Local Market Reach" Award at the National Business Excellence Awards. On the global level, the Bank was once again raked among  the Top 1000 Banks in the World by the Banker Magazine, UK and, adjudged "The Best Bank in Sri Lanka" at the European Global Banking and Finance Awards 2018. Further, as a testament to our relentless commitment to excellence in digitization, People's Bank clinched the "Best Branch Digitization Initiative Program Award" in Asia Pacific Region at the Asian Banker Business Achievement Awards 2018 for Financial Technology Innovation.
* 2019 The People's Bank (Amendment)  Bill was passed in Parliament in September 2019, enabling the Bank to issue debentures with relative ease to augment its regulatory capital. Post amendment, the Bank successfully raised LKR 10 billion in Base III, Tier II compliant Debentures. The roll out of self banking units (SBU's) was accelerated during the past two years to reach 239 at end 2019 a feat achieved in just three years. The success of the Bank in digital platform, is demonstrated through the numerous awards received internationally which include the Best Digital Bank 2019 by both the Asian Banker Magazine and Asian Money and being the recipient of the Best Mobile Banking Application by the Asian Banking Magazine for 2019.  At the Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards 2018, People's Bank was awarded the Best Digitization Initiative Programmed. The Bank was recognized as the Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka and the Most Improved Retail Bank in Asian Pacific, Middle East and Africa by the Asian Banker Magazine during 2019. The Asian Development Bank in Sri Lanka, for its Trade Finance operations.

## Related pages 
* Central bank

## References