People's Bank pre-tax profits exceed Rs. 4.2 billion

People's Bank has recorded a fifth continuous year of impressive performance in the year 2006. The bank's unaudited financials show profit before taxation and appropriations reached its highest level of Rs. 4.2 billion in the 2006 financial year, whilst profit before tax for the group surpassed Rs. 5 billion at Rs. 5.1 billion.

The profit before taxation indicated a growth of 4.7% over the year 2005 and the profit after taxation saw a 20.8% growth and retained profits after the payment of dividends grew by 29.3% over the previous year.

"The bank has shown a continuous impressive performance, consistent profit and balance sheet growth for the last six years. People's Bank has had a very successful year in relation to the growth of deposits with total deposits reaching Rs. 270 billion showing a growth of 19.7%.

The bank's capital funds now amount to Rs. 11.2 billion up from Rs. 4.0 billion over the previous year," said Dr. P. A. Kiriwandeniya, Chairman, People's Bank. People's Bank's contribution to the government in the form of taxes and levies increased by 11.5% to reach Rs. 3.6 billion," he said.

"The second phase of the People's Bank's major restructuring drive, based on the strategic plan initiated in 2001, has completed three years, achieving outstanding success for the bank. A main area of focus of the bank's development plan has been to create a performance-oriented culture," said Asoka de Silva, CEO/GM, People's Bank.

The bank's IT platform now has 275 branches linked for online cash transactions. The bank currently has 140 ATM machines of which 131 ATMs are Visa-enabled.

The restructuring strategies of the bank have been change agents, creating catalytic changes in the culture and attitude towards credit recovery.

To accelerate the recovery of longstanding, non-performing loans People's Bank implemented a vigorous recovery plan across the country.