Global Finance, New York, one of the leading financial journals, has placed National Bank of Pakistan as "The Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Pakistan - 2005".
This is the second consecutive year that NBP has won this prestigious award. Another recognition of the bank by Global Finance is awarding NBP the "Best Domestic Bank in Pakistan - 2005. Both the awards were received by S. Ali Raza, President and Chairman, National Bank of Pakistan, who is on an official visit to USA.
National Bank of Pakistan was the first to establish a foreign exchange company in February 2003 after the State Bank of Pakistan liberalised the foreign currency business.
NBP Exchange Company offers a full range of foreign exchange services to individuals and companies through the extensive use of network of international correspondents covering over 100 countries. NBP Exchange Company has branches in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Mirpur AK and Islamabad. The operations will shortly be extended to Peshawar and Lahore.
The selection criteria for the "Best Domestic Bank in Pakistan", besides transaction volume and market share, included customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products and technology. NBP showed its very strong financial performance during the year 2004.
Pretax profits improved by 33 percent year on year and reached Rs 12 billion (US $200 million), more than double of its nearest competitor. A number of new products in the area of retail banking, agriculture and financing for SMEs were introduced. The bank continued to make substantial investment in technology and upgrading its human resource base.
NBP's focus on marketing diversified asset products to its 10 million plus account holders to maintain revenue momentum through higher fee and interest income was another factor in its selection for the award.
The half yearly results as on June 2005 vis-à-vis June 2004 are even more encouraging. Pre-Tax Profit has risen from Rs 4 billion to Rs 7 billion, an increase of 75 percent, whereas the After-Tax Profit has gone up to Rs 4.4 billion from Rs 2.2 billion, a 100 percent increase. Other financial indicators have also shown remarkable rise, such as Total Assets have risen by 9 percent, Deposits by 8 percent, Advances by 28 percent, equity and Reserves by 66 percent, Return on Equity by 24 percent, Return on Assets by 56 percent and Earning Per Share by 102 percent.-PR
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