People’s Bank Chairman W. Karunajeewa receiving the award

People’s Bank, which calls itself the country’s best loved bank and the bank for the aspiring people of Sri Lanka, made a clean sweep at SLIM Brand Excellence 2009 when it won the coveted Brand of the Year award in recognition of its services towards taking banking to Sri Lanka and its people.

People’s Bank demonstrated once again why it is regarded as a well loved and most successful brand in Sri Lanka when it won the award together with Gold in the Service Brand of the Year category, showing that the bank had graduated to the realm of a mega brand that has not only captured the local market but also integrates social responsibility as part and parcel of its make up in uplifting the lives of Sri Lanka’s people.

The award recognized People’s Bank’s marketing and brand management prowess as well as consumer acceptance as reflected in service achievements. In capturing these awards, People’s Bank also showcased its numerous CSR projects it has undertaken over the years - such as offering young scholars the chance to attend university on scholarships, empowering the women and the elderly of the country, offering flexible loan schemes for housing and other needs, offering the convenience of Palmtop banking and the ease of money transfer, as well as a discreet, yet convenient gold pawning services, its farmer and entrepreneur upliftment programmes together with its disaster assistance and other such corporate philanthropy projects.

Through the banking solutions on offer, the comprehensive branch network and an all inclusive communication structure, the bank helps a large majority of people across the land, thereby reaching out to the hearts of people from all walks of life across Sri Lanka. People’s Bank does not merely help those in the direst of times, but also in day to day business through Micro Finance Loans and small & medium enterprise loans to help the smaller entrepreneurs of the country. In addition to which, these loans go a long way towards the development of the country and its commercial success.

W. Karunajeewa, the Chairman of People’s Bank said "The awards were a true celebration of many of the country’s highest profile brands. We are happy to announce that People’s Bank was voted ‘Brand of the Year’ together with Service Brand of the Year as it scored the highest points amongst all the brands.

``We replicated the same passion, dedication and attention to detail that we display in competing in the marketplace when we had to showcase these successes to the Brand Excellence jury. To win this accolade is a powerful endorsement and evidence for existing customers, potential customers, the media, suppliers, investors and employees of People’s Bank’s exceptional status. Our marketing and promotional activity, brand innovations and service achievements spoke for themselves. We have thus been able to win multiple awards year after year."

‘I would like to make this an opportunity to thank our valued customers, retired members of the staff who served us in the past, current CEO/ General Manager, Corporate and Executive Management, Members of the staff, our Officers’ Union, Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union, all the unions of the bank that organize our CSR projects and specially thank the staff members of our Marketing Division for their valuable contribution towards this victory." Concluded the Chairman of Peoples Bank.

A mere seven years ago, People’s Bank was seen by the people of Sri Lanka as a bank that catered merely to the people in certain sectors of the country. However in the years that followed, the bank has worked hard to improve their image and bring banking to everyone. This has resulted in People’s Bank receiving multiple awards over the past few years, including the People’s Choice for "Bank of the Year" for three consecutive years and the People’s Choice for "Best Service Brand", as well as being rated AA- by Brand Finance Rating, the highest in the Banking and Finance category.