People’s Bank announced the results for the year ended December 31, 2021 – with consolidated total operating income reaching Rs 110.7 billion and total operating expenses amounting to Rs 50.5 billion, either of which up 21.9% and 14.9% respectively over 2020. Consolidated pre-tax and post-tax profits amounted to Rs 37.2 billion and Rs 28.1 billion; representing a 51.1% and 74.6% growth.
On a Bank standalone basis, figures were Rs 30.4 billion and Rs 23.7 billion, respectively – up 43.2% and 67.3% over 2020. Income growth primarily stemmed from net interest income, which accounted for close to 90.0% of total operating income and grew by 30.2% in line with the Bank’s growth in its credit and investment portfolio, whilst its fee income grew by 23.4% to reach Rs 9 billion. During the year, the Bank invested in rural development, supported small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and encouraged women entrepreneurship. At the end of 2021, it extended over Rs 63 billion to SMEs through various loan initiatives; which included close to Rs 1.9 billion through its own scheme to help revive businesses across agriculture, information technology, logistics, manufacturing, tea and tourism. In conjunction with the Smallholder Agri-Business Partnership (SAP), the Bank introduced a low-interest credit scheme for 5,000 farmers with an initial provision of Rs 1 billion.
To support the production of local fertilizer, the Bank introduced the Sarabhoomi loan scheme whilst to promote women entrepreneurship, it extended Rs 533.5 million. All the above considered, the Bank’s consolidated loan book expanded by 12.1% to reach Rs 1,990 billion at end 2021. The Bank’s stage 3 loans were, however, at 4.3% (2020: 4.5%).
In addition, the Bank undertook approximately Rs 453 billion Treasury bond conversions during the said two-year period. Growth in its consolidated deposits was 12.1% to Rs 2,168.7 billion. Total consolidated taxes and dividends to the Government of Sri Lanka totaled Rs 20.4 billion during 2021, representing a 25.1% growth over Rs 16.3 billion in 2020.
Commenting on the results, Chairman of People’s Bank, Sujeewa Rajapakse, stated that: “We are very pleased with the results of the Bank.
As a service provider, the last two years have put our promise and our ability to deliver to the ultimate test. As a national institution, we don’t measure our success by a typical top line or bottom line but by our national value added – with our results both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective self-attesting our resilience in these difficult times and overall performance including, most notably, our productivity & efficiency.”
Chief Executive Officer/General Manager of People’s Bank, Ranjith Kodituwakku, said: “If one thought 2020 was challenging, 2021 was at a different level. Operationally, it continued to test our commitment, our discipline, our resolve, our strength and, importantly, our technological capabilities. If anything, the pandemic has expedited all things remote and all things digital. So, we used 2021 to focus on our digital customer on-boarding efforts, introduce new solutions to help our customers, expand our overall digital footprint, enhance our brand value and forge new relationships, all of which ultimately led and will continue to lead to enhanced performance and delivery.2022 will be a defining year; we look forward to it with resolve, hope and optimism.”
With a view to bringing the benefits of digitalization to the entire nation, People’s Bank embarked on a pioneering digital transformation journey in 2015.
Since then, a host of diversified digital banking solutions have been launched that deliver enhanced convenience, speed and efficiency to customers at every point in their interactions with the Bank. People’s Bank is also the first and only bank in Sri Lanka to be accredited with the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, the highest international accreditation for information protection, and security.