People’s Leasing becomes “People’s Leasing & Finance PLC”

At an Extraordinary General Meeting held on September 27, 2012, shareholders of Sri Lanka’s biggest leasing institution, People’s Leasing Company PLC approved the change of its name to Peoples Leasing & Finance PLC.

In July this year, the Company announced that it has made an application to the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to obtain a license to carry on finance business. If granted, this would convert the Company’s status to a Licensed Finance Company and broaden its funding sources to include retail funding which would be an added strength to the Company.

People’s Leasing, the largest non-bank financial institution in Sri Lanka in terms of advances and assets, recently secured the rare distinction of becoming the only Sri Lankan non-banking financial institution to have obtained two international ratings. WhilstStandard & Poor’s assigned the Company an international rating equal to the Sovereign(‘B+/B” Rating), Fitch Ratings International assigned an international rating one notch below the Sovereign (‘B+’ Rating). The Company’s National Long Term rating was also upgraded twice this year, with the current rating at AA-(lka) with a ‘Stable Outlook’.