People’s Bank reaches pinnacle of banking industry at National Business Excellence Awards 2017

• Winner in Banking category and Merit Award for Excellence in Environmental Sustainability

 People’s Bank was bestowed with two prominent awards at the prestigious National Business Excellence Award 2017 held on 13 December at the Colombo Hilton. 

People’s Bank emerged the Winner in the Banking sector while also securing a Merit Award for Excellence in Environment Sustainability. Through these awards, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) recognises business enterprises which have demonstrated excellence in business, whilst contributing to the economic progress of the country. 

Excellence in Leadership, Corporate Governance, Capacity building, Performance management, Local and Global Market Research, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business and Financial Results were the key criteria on which winners were judged. Established with a social responsibility mandate, People’s Bank is committed to providing financial inclusion through innovation and dedication to its vision to become Sri Lanka’s most digitalised bank by 2020.

Commenting on this latest triumph, People’s Bank Chairman Hemasiri Fernando said: “It gives us immense pride to be selected as the winner in the Banking category amidst fierce competition from leading players in the industry. This accolade affirms the bold and innovative path that People’s Bank is treading. Our sights are set on taking the benefits of digitalisation to the people of Sri Lanka while we were also recognised and rewarded with an award for excellence in environment sustainability at the National Business Excellence Awards 2017. The bank’s Environment Sustainability program is guiding us to achieve our aspirations for a greener future.”

People’s Bank CEO/General Manager N. Vasantha Kumar added: “We are pleased to receive two major awards at the recently-held National Business Excellence Awards 2017. Led by our vision for digitalising the bank, our applications, customer touch-points, business processes and operational flows have all transformed the bank to the next level. We thank the eminent jury of the awards for recognising the progress we have made. Progressing towards the future, People’s Bank plans to take digital banking to the doorstep of rural consumers so that they conduct their transactions on their mobile devices and expects to roll out more fully digitalised branches, thus fulfilling our sustainability pledge to reduce our carbon footprint and benefit the environment by promoting paperless banking.”

Apart from introducing green banking, also known as paperless banking, People’s Bank has established Self-Banking Centres equipped with the most modern ATM’s, Cash Deposit Machine and Kiosks. The touch-screen CDM/ATM/Kiosks are accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, further enhancing convenience for customers and putting them in control of where, when and how they conduct their banking. The Self-Banking units are now established at many locations, with the vision of reaching 100 Self-Banking Centres across the country by the end of the year. 

The first phase of People’s Bank’s digitalisation drive was inaugurated recently with the opening of the fully-fledged Digital Center at York Street, Colombo 1. It is the first fully-digitalised bank branch offering a unique banking experience, thus creating history in Sri Lanka’s banking industry. 

The bank currently serves over 16 million customer account relationships, through 737 branches, and is also connected to a network of over 4,000 ATMs which are linked through the Lanka Pay gateway. 

People’s Bank also counts corporate clients and international banking as part of its business, spanning a network of 900 agents in 103 countries to provide finance facilities and consultancy to corporate clients involved in international trade.  

People’s Bank Business Banking Senior Deputy General Manager Rasitha Gunawardana; Retail Banking Senior Deputy General Manager K.B. Rajapakse; Human Resources Deputy General Manager S.A.R.S. Samaraweera; Head of Finance Azzam A Ahamat and Marketing Assistant General Manager A.U.L.A. Anzar were present at the awards ceremony to accept the awards.