History
1971
Established as a private company on 30th May 1971 with its registered office at No. 101, Vinayalankara Mawatha, Colombo 10. Our majority shareholding of 94.9% was held by Lewis Brown & Company Limited.
1982
Changed our status to become a public company.
1994
Vanik Incorporation Limited’s shareholding increased to 83.26% marking a milestone in our journey.
1997
We were listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange.
2003
A period of transformation that added another strong chapter to our journey. Mr. K D D Perera took over a stake of 58.74 percent to turn around the loss-making company into a profitable venture.
2005
Registered in terms of Section 2 of the Finance Companies Act No. 78 of 1988.
2008
The Company re-registered under the New Companies Act No. 07 of 2007.
2010
Our profits doubled and crossed over Rs. 1 billion for the first time in history. Our North and East market presence became a part of the Vallibel One umbrella for the first time, which is a diversified company.
2012
We moved to our new corporate office located at Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 03, and introduced LB Savings to our customers. The largest expansion drive within the industry with 20 new outlets was recorded, along with the largest deposit base among the NBFI sector.
2013
Global Banking and Finance Review UK awarded us with the ‘Best Retail Finance in Sri Lanka for 2013’ recognition. We opened our first Premier branch in Mount Lavinia. Our workforce exceeded 2000 employees.
2014
We were certified as a Carbon Conscious Company by the Sri Lankan Carbon Fund. We also partnered with the Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System (SLIPS). As a CSR initiative, we rebranded as LB Sustainability, marking another important milestone in our journey.
2015
Marking a monumental period, we opened our 100th branch in Jaffna, and introduced the VISA shopping card.
2016
We successfully completed 45 years in the finance industry with a profit growth of 70%; a profit of Rs. 3.7 billion (PAT).
2017
Integrated with Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch (CEFTS). We also exceeded Rs. 100 billion asset base.
2018
We made our first overseas expansion of L B Finance to Myanmar. We also migrated into cloud-based IT platform. We were ranked among the top 20 brands in Sri Lanka by Interbrand and launched the Cash Deposit Machine facility.
2019
Our profits reached over Rs. 5 billion for the first time in the history. We successfully launched ORACLE Fusion finance module and established a Digital Financial Services Unit. Our Myanmar operation expanded to four branches. As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, we commenced planting 50,000 trees under the ‘Thuru Wawamu’ Project.
2021
2021 marked the 50th year of LBF. Our customers, shareholders, employees, business partners, regulators, and the community at large, have each been an integral part that made us whole and who we are today; one of the most recognized and the largest financial institutions in the country. This milestone is one where we reflect on the lives we have touched, and those who gave us a reason to exist and provided us the opportunity to give back to the community.
