Double celebrations for People’s Merchant Finance PLC

 Seen here are People’s Merchant Finance (PMF) Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema and CBSL Assistant Governor J. P. R. Karunaratne after ceremonially opening the new PMF Head Office

Relocates Head Office and Corporate Branch to prime locations in Colombo; launches ‘Navodhaya’

In a bid to support its transformational journey, People’s Merchant Finance PLC (PMF) relocated its Head Office and Corporate Branch to prime locations in Colombo whilst launching the Navodhaya Entrepreneur Loan Scheme to create a healthy entrepreneurial financing system in Sri Lanka.

The Head Office is now at 361/1, R. A. De Mel Mawatha, Colombo 3, and its Corporate Branch is now at 47, Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 3, where both prime locations were selected to make the institution more accessible to its clientele.

PMF clients now have the opportunity to open a fixed deposit, savings deposit, get a lease facility, working capital loan, mortgage loan, and even get entrepreneurship financing under one roof.

Moving forward, PMF will operate on a sustainable footing that was built to ensure easy access to its products and ensure that customers’ money is safe while aiding entrepreneurs to develop their businesses. The institution will also continue to enhance its governance and risk management frameworks and proactively meet regulatory requirements as mandated by the Central Bank (CBSL). 

CBSL Assistant Governor J. P. R. Karunaratne, who graced the opening of the PMF Head Office and the launch of the Navodhaya Entrepreneur Loan Scheme as the Chief Guest, stressed the importance of financing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. He said giving entrepreneurs loans is a ‘vital element’ of the Sri Lankan economy.

“About 52% of the GDP comes from the MSME sector, without which we can’t improve the GDP as well,” he said, adding, “Unless we can upgrade the standards of rural people in this country, I don’t think we can achieve (economic) targets.”

PMF’s Navodhaya Entrepreneur Loan Scheme has an ambitious footing. This product is aimed at Sri Lanka’s emerging entrepreneurs and supports the national initiative to encourage local business operations to drive economic growth. One of the key objectives is to create a unique role model financing institution that can be used as a success story.

PMF Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema said they hope to be a trailblazing organisation, not just in the country but the whole region.

“Today, the SMEs are struggling because so much of financing is done while not educating them on what is needed from them. It is important that the dynamism comes from the team; how you could really transfer value to the customers in the right way, to take the customer to his destination. When you take the customer to his destination, we will be automatically reaching our destination,” he said.

“We want to be realistic and make sure we show responsible and sustainable revenue generation through our engagement. That’s our dream and our desire particularly for PMF,” he added.

PMF CEO Nalin Wijekoon called the event a ‘significant milestone’ in their transformation journey. He said this journey kick-started in 2019 with a Rs. 2.1 billion capital infusion by Sterling Capital Investments Ltd. (SCIL), PMF’s majority shareholder together with the appointment of a new Board of Directors and a dynamic management team.

“We have developed a five-year strategic plan. We have built our strategic plan under two pillars. Our cooperative objective is to achieve a Rs. 25 billion asset base by 2024/25, and Rs. 1 billion in profit by 2024/25. One of the corporate strategies is to restructure our existing branch network to serve our customers better, to give a better service,” he said during the auspicious opening of the Corporate Branch.

Recently, PMF announced its second Rights Issue within a span of less than a year. Operating in a highly regulated industry, PMF’s main focus is to meet the Core Capital Requirements of Rs. 2.5 billion due in December 2021, as stipulated by the CBSL Monetary Board under the Finance Business Act Direction No. 02 of 2017, issued on 23 February 2017. 

The revival and revitalisation of PMF began in May 2019, and has shown remarkable results to date with the abundant support of SCIL, loyal customers, and the dedication of the management and employees.

Seen here are People’s Merchant Finance (PMF) Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema accepting the first cash deposit from a customer after the relocation of Corporate Branch, as PMF CEO Nalin Wijekoon (left) looks on