KARACHI: The 73rd Annual General Meeting of National Bank was held on Wednesday at Karachi and was also open for participation through online electronic means. The meeting was attended by the Chairman Zubyr Soomro and the President Arif Usmani along with other Directors and senior management of the Bank as well as a large number of the shareholders.
The Shareholders appreciated the Bank’s financial performance as total revenue for the year 2021 closed at Rs 134.6 billion that included net interest income of Rs 97.6 billion and non-fund income of Rs 36.9 billion. Despite inflationary pressures, operating expenses dropped by 5 percent YoY to close at Rs 60.0 billion. Also, loan loss and other provision charges reduced by 61 percent to close at Rs 11.9 billion.
Despite a civil penalty of Rs 9.8 billion imposed on the Bank’s US operations, profit before tax amounted to Rs 52.9 billion which is the highest ever in the history of the Bank. Total provision charge for the year 2021 amounted to Rs 11.92 billion, which is significantly lower by Rs 19.0 billion or 62 percent vs Rs 30.9 billion for 2020.
Due to the civil penalty, profit after tax closed at Rs 28.0 billion reflecting a YoY drop of 8 percent. With Rs 74.4 billion in after-tax profits during the last three years, net assets of the Bank stand increased from Rs 206.9 billion at the beginning of 2019 to Rs 286.2 billion at end of 2021 translating into Book Value of Rs 135 per share against Rs 97.2 at the beginning of 2019, when the new management took charge.
On the balance sheet side, total assets of the Bank have reached Rs 3.85 trillion compared to Rs 2.80 trillion in early 2019. Only in 2021, YoY growth was high at 27.9 percent as the Bank achieved the Rs 3.0 trillion milestone in deposits which increased by Rs 600 billion, of which 80 percent or Rs 477.4 billion were customer deposits.
The Bank’s liquidity coverage ratio stood at 164 percent, and the Net Stable Funding Ratio stood at 278 percent, well above the statutory minimums of 100 percent. Also the CET-1 ratio and Total CAR stood at 15.42 percent and 20.39 percent, respectively - the highest capitalisation level in the Bank’s history. The Bank enjoys highest local credit ratings of AAA / A1+ categories for long term and short term respectively as reaffirmed by both PACRA and VIS Credit Rating Company.
The shareholders appreciated the Board’s recommendation for dividend pay out of Re 1.0 per share subject to the approval of the Federal Government and the State Bank of Pakistan. The Bank has applied for requisite approvals that are currently under process, hence the dividend could not be declared in today’s AGM. The matter will be placed before the shareholders in a general meeting once the said approvals are received.
The shareholders also raised concerns regarding the long outstanding matter related to pensionary benefits of its retired employees. The President assured the shareholders that the Bank is making every effort to amicably resolve the matter through any workable solution, including out of court settlements.
The President apprised the shareholders that the Bank has made visible progress on its strategy across its various businesses focussed on playing its systemically important role in the economy while maintaining a strong and resilient balance sheet to deliver performance for shareholders. Going forward, the Bank’s strategic focus will remain Agri, SME, Commercial and low-cost housing segments to support the inclusive development agenda.
Audited Financial Statements and other agenda items were unanimously approved by the shareholders.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.