Richard Pieris Finance marks 3rd anniversary

• RPFL growth at steady pace: Director/CEO K.M.M. Jabir

The deposit base of Richard Pieris Finance Ltd. is Rs. 3 billion and the total asset base is Rs. 10 billion, says the company’s Director/CEO K.M.M. Jabir. 

Speaking to ‘The Sunday Leader’ on Monday, 25 April on the occasion of marking the third successful year of operation, Jabir said that the company plans to open a number of branches this year. At present we have two branches in Borella and Matara. The other branches we plan to open are in Kandy, Galle, Kalmunai, Kurunegala, Gampaha, Negombo, Panadura and Wennappuwa.

We go by our logo ‘Your Gain is Our Goal’ and with our committed and dedicated employees along with our loyal customers, our growth is at a steady pace, said Jabir.

It’s a pleasant working environment for our employees. They have continuously been performing well and a well-planned team effort is progressing. The management is very cooperative, interactive, and communicative with each other to take decisions for the benefit of our customers and the company. The key objectives are the benefit of our customers and the company that will be attracted from all corners.

We have been growing at a steady pace. The number of staff has increased to 125 and in the current financial year, we plan to recruit a further 150 to man all these new branches, said Mr. Jabir. 

Commenting on the present market environment Jabir said, “It is very tough. However, we sail safely in this stormy weather. My personal view is that this stormy weather will continue until the economy takes a positive direction, which will happen very soon.” 

On the progress of the Richard Pieris Finance Ltd., compared to other finance institutions, he said that taking the industry into consideration, the majority of financial institutions are at a maturity stage. “We are the only finance company that is at the growth stage and there is enough space for growth. That is where we want to provide a good career path to our employees, unlike matured companies. The employees working here have a very good future. Because the company is growing, we need people to exploit that growth so that they will have a good career growth.”

Expressing his views on further improvement of services, Jabir said that the company has a planned training program, which they had done in the past and continue in the future to groom the people for leadership. 

“Our budget allocation is much higher for training and development for our staff members. And also we are planning to send our best performers overseas recognising their achievements for the company. It will be a holiday cum training.”

“Our approach for business is demand driven. We watch the environment very closely. We do not want to be like the other financial institutions with stereotype business so that we will be much closer to our customers. It’s very evident that our customers are very happy, as our growth is because of them. Their continuous support and trust that they have in us is certainly very encouraging,” Jabir pointed out.

“Where our interest rates are concerned, it is in par with the industry, neither expensive nor low. As such, our customers are very happy with us which is clearly evident with the growth such as the deposit base, growth of asset base, the number of customers, which has increased to almost 5,000. 

“Over the last three years, since we did not have any branches, it had always been the word of mouth. Our existing customers introduced more and more customers. That is why we always highlight the faith and trust our customers have in us. Also our service quality is very high and our customers are really taken up by that standard.

Commenting on the growth in the coming years, he said, “We have our own budget. In five years’ time from now, we will be among the top five in the industry in the NBFI sector. That’s our target.”

Elaborating on future success, he said that the company planned to open about 10 branches island-wide to meet the wide reach the company expects. “It is our directors who continue to motivate us and provide all the necessary support with strong backing for the success of our company. Our heartiest thanks go to them for the continuous support extended. And also we plan to launch a series of new products to cater to the demands of our valued customers without restricting for the traditional products. 

Commenting on the high recognition of Richard Pieris Finance Ltd. Jabir said, “On top of that, last year, we achieved the Gold Award for the ‘Emerging Entity of the Year’, which was really surprising and encouraging. The awards event was organised by the SLBFI. We are targeting to win more and more awards in time to come.”

Jabir also highlighted on five steps the company is concentrating on to develop the company further. They are:

1. Training and development of the staff. 

2. Evaluation process of customer satisfaction. Bringing in the concept of focus group and the profitable customers to segment the customer base and they will be monitored by the focus group to provide them with a better service.  

3. Cutting down the lead time in the final delivery of service. 

4. Cutting edge technology. Updating the system, a new system in place which will be alive from 1 May.

5. All these processes will be online and will be digitalised for the customers. 

“Today we celebrated the third anniversary and it is really heartening to see the growth of the company, since I joined from the inception. As the founder CEO, I’m really glad to see the momentum. When we started, it was only five people and today, there are 125 staff. It’s a very satisfactory growth indeed!

“In addition, the balance sheet is growing, which is getting stronger from year to year. Profit is showing an impressive growth, and we celebrated it on this third  birthday on 25 April, where the Group Chairman, who came all the way from London, the Group Directors, our branch managers and our trusted customers, who continue to patronise us, got together to encourage us and our employees.

“We benchmark our future growth to be 30 to 35%. Compared to the industry, it is growing at 20 to 22%, whereas we have projected our growth to be at over and above the industry average. Our strength is the trust our customers has placed with us and our committed employees, who are well versed, experienced, dedicated, committed and ever-willing. They are hand-picked. Our strategy in recruitment policies is ‘hand-pick’. We don’t advertise to recruit people. All our staffhas been recruited without advertising. When recruiting the next 150 also, the same strategy will be followed,” said Jabir. 

“The key motive all our staff are committed to is the superior service we offer to our customers. Thereby we are confident that all of us, the customers, the company and employees will steadily progress to a much better future,” assured the Director/CEO Jabir.