People’s Bank celebrates 61st Anniversary
People’s Bank celebrated its 61st anniversary on July 1. People’s Bank has continued its responsibility to the nation by providing digital banking services even to the most rural areas in the country, thereby enabling the entire nation to enjoy the benefits of cutting edge technology.
Furthermore, the Bank has played a pivotal role in driving the national socio-economic development since its inception, thus earning the reputation as the pride of the nation.
People’s Bank was established under Act No. 29 of 1961 to uplift the cooperative business and rural banking systems. This Act was submitted to Parliament by then Minister of Trade, Food, Co-operatives and Shipping, T.B. Ilangaratne, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Vincent Subasinghe who was a pioneer in providing banking services to the cooperative sector was the first Chairman of People’s Bank.
In an era when banking services were limited to English-speaking upper echelons of society, it was the People’s Bank that changed that phenomenon by commencing to conduct its operations in Sinhala and Tamil.
Right from its inception, the bank started working towards its mission to serve the masses. Accordingly, People’s Bank has introduced many firsts to the country such as agriculture loans, Pawning, SME loans, Women’s Savings Accounts and Children’s Savings Accounts to name a few. Most of these product concepts were so widely embraced by a society that almost all the local commercial banks are now offering them under various brand names.
While the bank initially focused on rural sectors and cooperative movements, since then People’s Bank has evolved to cater to a wide range of customer segments including Retail, High Net Worth, Micro & SME and Corporate.
As a responsible state bank, People’s Bank has not only provided financial services to its customers but has also made significant contributions to the socio-economic progress of the country. During the past 61 years, the bank has provided financial assistance in the areas of exports, education, health, expressways, roads, tourism and infrastructure. In addition, People’s Bank works successfully with over 900 banks worldwide to facilitate import and export trades by issuing Letters of Credit to private and State-owned enterprises.
Adapting to the modern world, the People’s Bank launched a digital banking project in 2015, to ensure that its customers could transact easily, safely and efficiently. People’s Bank has enabled customers to open an account paperless in as short a time as ten minutes and obtain a personal loan within 24 hours.