NBP records highest ever rise in revenue growth.

Meeting of the Board of Directors (BoD) of National Bank of Pakistan (Bank) was held on February 22, 2019 at the Bank's Head Office in Karachi. The BoD approved the financial statements of the Bank for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Maintaining its position in the industry, this year too, the Bank recorded solid growth in terms of both balance sheet size and the total revenues. Despite a generally difficult year for the banking industry, the Bank has achieved the highest ever total revenue in its history of seven decades. Total revenue of the Bank amounted to Rs. 96.9 billion which is 13.6% higher than Rs. 85.3 billion of previous year. While net interest/mark-up income increased by 11.8% to Rs. 60.7 billion (2017 : Rs. 54.3 billion); a 16.7% growth was also achieved in non-interest / mark-up income which stood at Rs. 36.2 billion.

Profit before provisions amounted to Rs. 41.0 billion which is 11.4% higher than Rs. 36.8 billion for the year 2017. During the year, the Bank recognised significant increase in loan-loss and other provisions which amounted to Rs. 11.3 billion as against Rs. 1.2 billion in the prior year. This is mainly due to default by a single borrower group which has been fully provided for. Therefore, the after-tax profit for the year is lower by 13.1% against previous year and amounted to Rs. 20.0 billion (2017: Rs. 23.0 billion). This translates into earnings per share of Rs. 9.41 (2017: Rs. 10.82). Pre-tax and after-tax return on average equity stood at 21.8% and 14.7% (2017: 29.8% and 18.7%) respectively.

Healthy growth in balance sheet size was also recorded as total assets of the Bank stood at Rs. 2.8 Trillion depicting a 11.7 % growth YoY. Bank's gross loans and advances crossed the 1 Trillion mark and increased by Rs. 202.5 billion. The Bank's deposits also crossed Rs. 2 Trillion mark as the same increased by Rs. 284.3 billion during the year. For better liquidity and rate-risk management, the Bank maintains a healthy portfolio of investment in low risk securities.

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