Growth rates, credit risk and earnings of the banking system are likely to remain under strain in future due to constrained economic environment both at home and global fronts. According to the State Bank of Pakistans Quarterly Performance Review of the Banking System for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 released on Saturday.
Pakistans banking system effectively coped with several challenges emanated from economic slowdown, both at home and abroad, due to strong resilience built over the years and effective regulatory and supervisory regime. However, going forward, the impending economic slowdown may dampen the growth rate of the banking system in coming quarters.
Low demand for banks advances will shift asset mix away from advances to government papers, and deposits are likely to grow at a steady pace. This respite in liquidity may have positive bearing on interest rates, the report said.
The latest post quarters statistics of March 2009 also vindicate these trends. Since the last week of December 2008, the asset base over these weeks has grown by 2.3 percent with 1.8 percent and 11.3 percent increase in deposits and investments, respectively, while advances declined by 2.3 percent.
The present tough economic environment will also heighten the credit risk and affect the earnings due to increased loan loss charges and constrained incomes. The system is expected to remain profitable in the coming quarters, though this phenomenon may not be widely shared across the market players.
Though the concerns about the solvency of top banks of the world are weighing on the investor confidence across the globe, the banks in Pakistan are still maintaining their resilience, the report said.
The strength of the banking system largely comes from the prudent regulatory and supervisory regime strengthened risk management and governance standards in banks as well as the improved solvency and earning capacity of banks, it added.
The report pointed out that asset base of the banking system grew 2.6 percent over the quarter to reach Rs 5,653 billion, well supplemented by 3.6 percent and 7 percent growth in deposit and shareholders equity, respectively.
The liquidity profile of the banking system remained constrained for most part of the quarter. However, post quarter statistics indicate significant easing out in liquidity profile because of the gradual increase in deposits and reduction in banks advances.
The report pointed out that in line with deterioration in macroeconomic indicators, the credit risk remained heightened during the quarter. Non-performing Loans (NPLs) of the banking system increased to Rs 313 billion (Rs 278 billion in September-2008) giving infection ratio of 9.1 percent and net infection ratio of 2.5 percent, it said.
However, satisfactory earnings enabled the system to cover these loan losses. NPLs are covered by the loan loss provisions to the extent of 75 percent, but due to these increased loan provisions in absolute amounts, earnings of the banking system came under pressure and remained lower than last couple of years levels.
It said overall solvency position of the banking system registered an improvement. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) under Basel-II framework, which also accounts for the operational risk charge, improved to 12.2 percent (12.6 percent for commercial banks) due to fresh injection of equity and satisfactory earnings. The CAR improved to 13 percent jointly for banks and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), it added.
"Banking system shows strong resilience to unusual shocks in major risk factors. This strength of the banking system largely came from the prudent regulatory and supervisory regime, strengthening of risk management and governance standards in banks as well as the improved solvency position," the report added.
During the quarter under review, the banking system successfully weathered a liquidity stress. The stress emerged in usual timeframe ie Eid-ul-Fitr deposit withdrawal and a number of global, domestic and industry specific factors further compounded it. Specifically, the news of failures of some global financial giants burdened the liquidity profile of banks that together with closure of capital market raised concerns about the strength of the Pakistani banks.
The situation aggravated by the intensive rumour mongering, leading to deposit withdrawal from the banking system and severely affecting some banks. However, strong capacity developed by the banks and regulators over the years and the offsetting measures taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) enabled the system to avert this transitory stress from converting into a financial crisis.
This temporary liquidity stress however decelerated growth of the system, which had already been showing the signs of stabilisation for the last one-year or so. The quarter under review, which is historically characterised by acceleration in economic activities and strong growth in bank credit and deposits witnessed a passive growth.
Despite slight increase in credit risk and some relapse in the earnings, key financial soundness indicators of the banking system remain within satisfactory ranges, though challenged considerably. The stress testing results also substantiate strong resilience of the banking system towards the major risk factors, as capital base of the system remains strong.
The report pointed out that loan growth also remained low ie 3.7 percent with a significant portion of these additional loans going to public sector enterprises (PSEs). Building vulnerabilities in the credit risks and constrained liquidity profile increased the banks interest in short-term government papers.
However, the liquidity profile of the banking system remained constrained during most part of the quarter. Relatively stronger advance growth in the recent quarters had significantly increased Advances to Deposit Ratio (ADR) of the system by the inception of December-2008 quarter.
Further, due to the shift in asset mix away from marketable government papers, the fund-based liquidity of the system had also contracted. However, the post-quarter figures indicate a reversal in trend and gradual improvement in liquidity of banks, it added.
Due to slower growth in advances, which carry higher risk weights, Risk Weighted Assets (RWA) remained stable at the previous quarters level. Further, fresh injection of equity and satisfactory earnings improved Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of the banking system under Basel-II framework to 12.2 percent (12.6 percent for commercial banks), while the CAR improved to 13.0 percent jointly for banks and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
The composition of the risk-based regulatory capital also improved with contraction of the supplementary capital due to write down in revaluation surpluses, thus improving the core capital to RWA ratio of banks to 10.2 percent. The report said that the worsening business and economic environment somewhat increased the credit risk, which compelled banks to adopt cautious lending strategy, particularly in consumer sector where the advances have been decreasing since the start of CY08.
The banking system maintained its strong earning capacity and posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 63 billion, though lower than last couple of years, the report said. The aggressive asset loss recognition strategy of some banks, additional provisions for the loan loss charges and the proportionately higher increase in operating expenses has to some extent affected the profitability and brought the key earning indicators under pressure over the past quarter.
"The pre-tax ROA deteriorated to 1.7 percent (2.0 percent in September-2008 and 2.2 percent in CY07). The SBP, keeping in view the present depressing environment, has devised a comprehensive strategy and contingency plan for effectively managing troubled banks and coping with any liquidity stress, burgeoning NPLs and solvency issues, the report said. This together with a multifaceted approach developed for the resolution of solvency issues provides SBP with host of options for tackling problem banks.
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