LAHORE: A meeting of the Board of Directors of The Bank of Punjab was held on April 29, 2021 to consider and approve the un-audited Financial Statements for the 1st quarter of year ended March 31, 2021.

The Board reviewed the financial position for the 1st quarter of year 2021 and expressed satisfaction on overall performance of the Bank. It was noted with pleasure that all financial indicators are positive and the Bank would achieve set strategic business targets.

During 1st quarter of year 2021, Bank’s Net Interest Margin (NIM) improved to Rs 6.87 billion as against Rs 5.90 billion during 1st quarter 2020 registering a growth of 16 percent. Similarly, Non-Markup/ Interest Income increased to Rs 2.53 billion as against Rs 2.00 billion during 1st quarter 2020 showing an increase of 27 percent.

During 1st quarter of the year, the Bank posted after tax profit of Rs 1.83 billion as against Rs 1.50 billion earned during 1st quarter of year 2020 with a growth of 22 percent. Earnings per Share (EPS) for the 1st quarter of year 2021 also improved to Rs 0.69 per share as against Rs 0.57 per share for 1st quarter 2020. Bank’s Total Assets as at March 31, 2021 stood at Rs 1,059.8 billion as against Rs 1,095.4 billion as of December 31, 2020. The Deposits of the Bank stood at Rs 826.9 billion, while Investments and Gross Advances were recorded at Rs 504.0 billion and Rs 467.4 billion, respectively. Equity remained at Rs 48.5 billion and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 14.30 percent against regulatory requirement of 11.50 percent.

The Bank has been assigned long term entity rating of “AA” by M/s PACRA with short term rating being at the highest rank of “A1+”.—PR