Since its inception 56 years ago, People’s Bank has supported customers across the country with practical and convenient financial products and services that meet their unique needs and uplift their lives.
The bank has been a long-standing institution that has relentlessly pushed boundaries and driven innovation to evolve services in line with customer expectations.
In 2015, People’s Bank took a strategic decision to embark on a historic digitalization drive to become the most digitalized bank in Sri Lanka in order to continue offering greater competitiveness to customers, while focusing on aspiring entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The digitalization process will help the Bank keep abreast with the digital transformation taking place in the global financial and banking sector.
People’s Bank selected the most advanced technology platform to implement the digitalization process which is easy to upscale and is capable of meeting expansion capacity requirements into the future.
This technology is the first-of-its kind to be introduced to the Sri Lankan market and has given the Bank an unprecedented advantage in the banking sector. There is no doubt that most products and services are moving towards digital platforms and People’s Bank is clearly leading the way.
The Bank re-launched its corporate logo to reflect its renewed identity as a customer-centric bank that meets people's aspirations to be in line with global trends, thereby re-emphasizing the ethos the bank stands for such as convenience, reliability and confidence to improve the quality of their daily lives.
People’s Bank is working towards being the most successful bank in Sri Lanka through the digitization of its services. The Bank currently serves over 17.9 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 Chief Executive Officer/General Manager N. Vasantha Kumar said: “People’s Bank is dedicated to serving the nation by providing a comprehensive range of banking solutions and financial services to citizens from all walks of life, across the entire island. Our commitment to customer convenience has inspired People’s Bank’s digitalization drive to deliver enhanced services to empower our customers. As the bank with one of the largest customer bases in Sri Lanka’s banking industry, People’s Bank is demonstrating its leadership status by launching digitalization initiatives in alignment with the latest global consumer and market trends. We believe this process of digitalization will deliver multiple benefits to the nation.”
People’s Bank Head of IT Sandalal Edirisinghe said: “Banking on-the-go or mobile banking is one of the key trends worldwide and Sri Lanka too must keep pace. As a bank with the largest customer bases in the nation’s banking industry, our digitalization efforts can empower a large proportion of the population to become financially aware and empowered by our digital technology backed financial solutions. We are proud to lead the way in the digitalization of Sri Lanka’s banking sector.”
The digitalization process has involved extensive staff training on digital Omni channels and digital marketing. Although digital banking is mainly for the tech-savvy Generation Y and Millennials, the Bank is retaining hybrid branches to educate technology-shy customers on how online banking can benefit them. The Bank continues to cater to the customer who still loves to visit the branch and have personal contact with the staff whilst tapping into the aspirations of the new generations.
People’s Bank Deputy General Manager – Digitalization Ranjith Kodituwakku added: “The digitalization project that has been initiated by People’s Bank spans a quick and easy digital banking experience to account opening, loan origination, mobile banking and internet banking, thereby transforming entire banking operations: our applications, our customer touch-points, the business process flow, the operational flow, simply the entire process that leads to transforming the Bank in to the next level. By becoming the Most Digitalized Bank in Sri Lanka, People’s Bank will have the bandwidth to ensure universal access for all, thereby achieving total financial inclusion.
The bank’s ambitious digitalization drive will empower it to deliver a seamless digital experience to customers and elevate Sri Lanka’s banking and financial services to an international digital platform.”
The first phase of People’s Bank’s digitalization drive culminated recently with the opening of the fully-fledged Digital Center by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at York Street, Colombo 1. It is the first fully digitalized bank branch offering a unique banking experience, thus creating history in Sri Lanka’s banking industry.
The launch of this Digital Center marks a quantum leap for the Bank in its dynamic leadership to become the most digitalized bank by the year 2020, to unlock the benefits of digitalization for its customers.
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