Malaysian bank to expand in Lanka

Vishmi WIJERATNE

Malaysian based Public Bank Beherad plans on expanding further by next year. Accounts Relation Manager, Prabah Joseph said that they are confident that this would be a profitable move. “We plan on having two more banks out of Colombo next year,” he said.

According to Joseph the reason behind the sudden move towards expansion is because the country is a safe place to invest in. “It is known that we operated as a single bank here in Sri Lanka until last year when we opened a new branch in Nawala,” he said.

The Public Bank vastly dealt with the corporate sector, however they also think that it is high time that the bank moved on to retail. “We did quite well with the corporate sector, but since we hope to go out station retail would be a good place to start as well,” Joseph said.

Commenting on the Nawala branch, Joseph said that it dealt with Small and Medium Enterprises. “ Having such a small market, 1.1 % to be exact we have made quite a bit of profit from september last year up to now,” he said.

Public Bank had earned a profit of US $ 2 million last year and is optimistic about the current Sri Lankan economy being on their side in the years to come.