KARACHI: The Board of Directors of Bank Alfalah Limited in its meeting held on Wednesday, approved the Bank's unaudited condensed interim financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2020.
The Bank's operating profit at Rs20.614 billion showed a growth of 11.4 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2019 despite lockdown in the country and drop in the policy rate by 625 bps during the year. Subjective provisioning, general provision build-up against advances and upfront impairment against equities contained profit after tax (PAT) to Rs8.331 billion, which translates into earning per share of Rs4.69 (Sep 2019: Rs5.20).
On the revenue front, net markup income and non-markup income showed combined growth of 10.1 percent with strong contribution from capital gains on government securities of Rs2.185 billion and FX earning of Rs2.762 billion. Fee and commission income remained muted due to lower transactions volume and regulatory waivers of branch and digital banking fees.
Operating expenses were contained at 9.5 percent compared to same period last year. This increase was largely driven by staff costs, IT support and maintenance fee, full year impact of new branches opened last year along with an overall impact of inflation and rupee devaluation. The cost to income ratio of the Bank stood at 52.6 percent slightly better than the corresponding period last year.
Total deposits and advances reported at Rs820.066 billion and 520.475 billion respectively. The Bank's focus remains on re-profiling its deposit base. CASA ratio improved to 82.3 percent. Gross advances to deposits ratio stood at 63.5 percent.
The bank is at the forefront of launch of Bank Alfalah Roshan Digital Account, a major initiative of State Bank of Pakistan, to provide innovative banking solutions for millions of Non Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) seeking to undertake banking, payment and investment activities in Pakistan. The bank is also on verge of launch of AlfalahGharAsaan product, a low cost housing finance product under Mera Pakistan MeraGhar initiative.
The Board of Directors, in its meeting declared an interim cash dividend of Rs2.0 per share (YTD September 2019: Rs2.0 per share). At the close of the period, the Bank remains adequately capitalised with CAR at 18.35 percent.-PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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