Mercantile Investments and Finance end FY21on strong note; Envisions greater success….

• Profit after tax grew by 65% recording a NP of Rs.614Mn

• Total Assets ove r Rs 41 Bn

• Shareholders’ funds grew by 16% amounting to Rs10.3 Bn

• Deposit base g rew to Rs 23 Bn

• Moratorium relief granted over Rs9 Bn loan base. Founded in 1964, Mercantile Investments and Finance PLC ( popularly known as Mi) It is licensed by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011. It has a Branch network of 39 fully fledged locations across the country employing over 1000 staff members to provide financial services for over 55,000 customer base. MI has an unblemished track record that spans over 55 years, and many of our clients have been with us for over several decades because they trust our stability and strength.

“Although the past year had been a challenging year due to the covid 19 pandemic, as a company we made sure to keep our employees safe and always ensured their well- being. During the lockdown everyone got their full salaries and even the bonuses were paid as a relief to their families. Further we were able to manage our liquidity levels well, as a result deposit interest payments were made way before the due date to ensure the i nvestments we re we l l secured. Moratoriums were granted over 9 billion loan base, to support our customers during these tough times Dhanushka added.”

MI has done exceptionally well achieving a net profit before tax of Rs 827 million and an after- tax profit of Rs 614 million in the 2020/ 21 financial year, which accounted for a 65% growth in profits compared to the preceding year. The company has exceeded the prudential requirements for the NBFI sector and built more than adequate capital buffers, with a core capital ratio of 15.31% ( minimum requirement 6.5%), recorded liquid asset ratio of 17.07% ( well above the minimum requirement) and an asset base of over Rs 41 billion. Meanwhile the deposit base increased to Rs23 Bn and shareholders’ funds grew by 16% amounting to Rs10.3Bn.

Strengthening MI’s footprint, the company launched its gold loans division to drive the current expansion on the lending portfolio, while offering a variety of products, namely vehicle leasing and loans, auto drafts, microfinance, property- backed lending, fixed deposits and Savings. Mi has launched an ATM card facility to further support the savings base of the company. Moreover, company deployed a state of the art fully fledged call centre operations at Kohuwala, to facilitate a more effective recovery medium and a sound customer relationship management.

The traditional brick and - mortar have run its course, and the future is digital. The covid 19 pandemic and the new normal around social distancing has only reinforced this fact, “we continue to invest in innovative systems that help us optimise processes, and we refreshed our digital offerings to meet the evolving expectations of our clients Dhanushka added.” We have enabled our clients to pay their rentals at any of the over 30000 merchants on the cash network. We launched an interactive web site with an internet payment gateway ( IPG) platform, broad basing digital payment options for MI customers, to transact conveniently from wherever they are located. We also plan to introduce a mobile app for a more convenient and seamless user experience.