The country’s financial inclusion needs improving and the financial sector should support in developing a banking community. The financial sector focus should be the affordability and the quality of the service delivery will play a critical role in this regard, CEO/General Manager of People’s Leasing & Finance PLC A. S. Ibrahim said.
The usage of digital technology in the modern finance world will enable speed, convenience and accuracy of the financial dealings and therefore, the sector needs to depend on this tool for providing efficient and effective service to the customers, he said.
“The PLC is well poised in to the future. We have a winning formula and will march forward meeting the customer requirements. It is necessary to provide the customers with the required finances to enable them to improve on their livelihood. We as a non-banking financial institution is prepared to fund them in their needs,” he said.
The PLC which started 22 years ago with three employees has grown to become a group of companies with five companies, namely, People’s Insurance, People’s Micro Finance, People’s Leasing Fleet Management, People’s Leasing Property Development and People’s Leasing Havelock Properties and over 3,000 employees spread across the country.
“The PLC is a leader in the non-banking sector and also has the ability to accept deposits from the customers. The institution has grown with the support of three pillars, namely, the guidance and co-operation received from the parent company, our customers,some of whom are with us from the inception displaying loyalty towards us and our staff members who are talented and have outstanding skills becoming the backbone of the company,” he said.
“We will continue to add more products to the market and grow the company. As there is potential to attract more customers and the market penetration is low we expect to expand our presence in the local market,” he said.
The company is looking forward to further expand its foot print and have a few branches outside the country. Our focus has been to reach beyond the shores of Sri Lanka and we will be planning to enter new markets in the near future. We entered in to a joint venture with a Bangladesh company early this year and as that country has a growing market and lucrative business opportunities we are confident that PLC could make a good impression in the Bangladesh market, he added further.
The PLC has also engaged in CSR initiatives in a big way and are concerned about child education and the environment.
We are looking at children’s education and have supported pre-schools in this regard. We are concerned with the preservation of the environment and are committed to the triple bottom line. Our whole focus is around the three P3, he said.
The PLC has recently received a concessionary funding channel from JAICA at an interest rate of 6.5 percent to support the industrialists to minimise the pollution. The PLC has the strong backing from its parent company People’s Bank and 75% of the company is owned by the Government.