Intellectual capital

A trusted brand

Established in 1995, People’s Leasing is a 75%-owned subsidiary of People’s Bank, one of the largest State Banks in Sri Lanka. Formerly known as PLC, the Company changed its branding to reflect the name People’s Leasing, capitalising on the connection with its parent company and to take Company’s identity forward.

As one of the top NBFI’s in the country, we occupy a leadership position in a highly competitive environment. We have established a research and development division to understand market context and how we are perceived by our customers as well as in the industry as a whole. There are a myriad of challenges operating in the present context with emerging competition from non-traditional players.

Our brand position remained strong throughout the year under review, as illustrated below. Fitch Ratings Lanka assigned the Company a credit rating of A+(lka) making it one of the highest-rated finance companies in Sri Lanka.

Considering the fact that non-availability of foreign funding sources at competitive rates at the moment the Company decided to withdraw its Fitch International rating from 30 April 2020 onwards.

Brand rating

Ratings

Corporate culture

Our corporate culture is underpinned by vision, mission, and our core values. There exists a culture that supports innovation, nurtures knowledge sharing and is inclusive. We have created opportunities for greater employee participation in decision-making as well as enabled out-of-the-box, innovative thinking. Our culture prioritises knowledge and experience as evidenced by our investment in training and development programmes each year.

Additionally, there is an engaged, performance-driven culture within our Organisation that allows our employees to meet targets, satisfy customers, and gain experience that in turn supports to achieve our strategic imperatives and maintain a leadership position while fostering future potential.

Our core values

While we trust each of our employees to do their part in ensuring that People’s Leasing is operated as a responsible business, we have identified six core values that resonate with our employees.

Institutionalised knowledge

As a leader in the industry, we possess a number of factors that differentiates us from the rest. We consider our institutionalised knowledge that has been passed down since our inception to be quintessential for the success of our Organisation. We possess strong knowledge of the SME sector, and our intellectual and human capitals provide expert knowledge of the industry and its requirements.

We believe that a qualified and well-trained workforce is essential and that it forms the backbone of our operations. Institutionalised knowledge provides us with a unique competitive advantage in the industry.

Our loyal workforce consists of highly-experienced personnel who have been with the Organisation for many years as well as young recruits. Our high retention rate ensures that the knowledge is preserved within the Organisation. The experienced employees act as mentors and willingly share their accumulated knowledge and experience with other employees.

Group synergies

In a highly competitive environment, we effectively utilise the strengths and synergies across our Group to give us an edge over the competition. Our Parent Company, People’s Bank, has added strength to our own brand and reputation. The island-wide presence of People’s Bank has enabled People’s Leasing to reinforce its existence across the country by opening service centres in branches. This cost effective method of widening our network helps us to tap into a vast customer base.

Through Lankan Alliance Finance Limited, we have moved beyond the shores of Sri Lanka into Bangladesh. This venture was a result of our expansion efforts. Though we operate in a highly competitive market in Bangladesh, our Company continues to show great potential for future growth. Our product offering, which includes leasing, term loans, and working capital loans, is our key differentiator that makes us stand out from the rest. We will continue to invest in the venture and utilise the synergies within our Group to develop the Company even further.

Our six subsidiaries provide us with an opportunity to offer diversified product portfolios to our customers while utilising ethical business processes.

A shared distribution network provides us with better outreach and helps maintain a leaner overhead cost structure. Shared procurement allows us greater benefits in price and quality negotiations with suppliers.

Future outlook

Preserving our intellectual capital for our future success is of vital importance to us. We are confident that the systems and processes in place to ensure that the tacit knowledge of our employee is nurtured and not lost will see us through from strength to strength.