UBL becoming a 'preferred solution provider'

The financial results of 2003 are a reflection of United Bank becoming a 'preferred solution provider' and with a series of new underlying drivers of business on the anvil in consumer finance in the year 2004 the bank will continue its successful journey to further improve its performance, said a confident UBL President Amar Zafar Khan.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday to highlight the UBL's financial results of 2003, he said the bank has been turned into premier financial house "where the customer comes first."
He said the banking industry will soon see the launch of ATM and Debit Card followed by the launch of a full array of Consumer Finance products in 2004 including housing finance, credit card etc.
He said despite all speculations about UBL's performance 'we have posted a net profit before tax of Rs 4.5 billion in 2003, which shows 63 percent growth over last year.
"We are proud to inform that despite the falling interest rates, our Net Revenue from Funds (NRFF) increased by a margin of 24 percent to Rs 7.3 billion," said Khan.
However, the income from dealing in foreign currencies declined sharply as spreads evaporated with the strengthening of the Pak rupee against the US dollar.
He said UBL's capital gain was lesser than other banks in 2003 as the Bank relied mostly on its customer-based services and innovative products.
He said UBL earned Rs 2.8 billion, double than last year and declared a cash dividend of Rs 1.2 billion, first time in decades and within the first full year of privatisation.
UBL has recorded a 45 percent growth in advances, which is one of the highest growth rates amongst the large network banks recording a rise of Rs 100 billion in performing advances increased.
In reply to a question, Khan said the corporate sector advances increased from Rs 41 to Rs 61 billion while commercial sector got Rs 28 billion advances which included Rs 10 billion for agriculture sector.
He said the Non-Performing Advances have decreased by Rs 2 billion mainly through cash recoveries. He said NPL under the new advances is less than one percent.
The domestic market share of advances increased to 8 percent at the end of the year compared to 2002, which was 6.9 percent.
Customer deposits and other accounts increased by 17 percent to Rs 190 billion.
UBL president said the commercial bank group recorded 51 percent growth in advances and 16 percent increase in deposits.
He said the investment Banking Group was involved in several high profile and profitable transactions, including Pakistan's first listed and rated Asset Backed Securitisation of TFC.
He said in October 2002, UBL had been positioned to a point where it had became an attractive institution for buyers and the government as a consequence could obtain a record price.
Supplementing the government effort targeting SME and agriculture as key areas for economic growth, UBL, lending to SME rose from Rs 2.3 billion to nearly Rs 12 billion in 2003. And, in the corresponding period loans to agriculture also saw a sharp jump and reached Rs 15.6 billion including Rs 6 billion in commodity lending.