PESHAWAR: The Bank of Khyber (BOK) posted Rs.608 million profit after tax (PAT) for the half year ended June 30, 2021.

This was informed during the 167th meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank held in Peshawar on Friday.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Shahab Ali Shah, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Chairman of the Bank’s Board.

The meeting was also attended by Atif Rehman, Finance Secretary, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Muhammad Ali Gulfaraz, Managing Director along with other Directors.

The Board was pleased to note that the Bank’s medium to long term entity rating has been upgraded from ‘A’ to ‘A+’ with Stable outlook. The Board was informed that during the half year 2021, the Bank’s deposits increased 24% to Rs.251, 599 million whereas with an increase of 49%, Investments stood at 168,980 million.

Due to settlement of commodity financing, the Bank’s advances decreased by 18% and stood at Rs.114, 440 million. The Bank’s total assets reached Rs.328, 777 million from Rs.288, 300 million at the year-end 2020.

The Board was further informed that by the end of half year 2021, the Bank was operating with 190 branches wherein 96 branches were functioning as dedicated Islamic Banking Branches.

The Board was of the view that despite a non-conducive business environment, the Bank’s performance remained satisfactory during the period under review however, the management is required to work more diligently to achieve the targets for the year end 2021.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021