United Bank Limited has reported a consolidated Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs 16.7 billion during the first nine months of the year. Excluding a one-off extraordinary pension cost for prior years, PBT touched Rs 25.5 billion, one of the highest by any Bank in Pakistan. Profits After Tax (PAT) closed at Rs 9.5 billion for the same period. In aggregate UBL maintained its healthy stream of dividend payments, distributing Rs 9.8 Billion (Rs 8 per share) to its shareholders during this period. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) improved from 15.1 percent at December 2017 to 16.9 percent at September 2018.
UBL has one of the largest balance sheets with a deposit base of Rs 1.4 trillion whereas advances stood at Rs 711 billion at the end of September 2018. With a strong focus on deposit mobilization across the branch network, average current deposits grew by 16 percent over the previous year to reach Rs 436 billion in September 2018. The average current to total deposits ratio improved to 44 percent in 9M'18 (9M'17: 40 percent), the highest in the industry. The Bank's optimal deposits mix has resulted in one of the lowest cost of deposits in the banking sector, recorded at 2.74 percent during 9M'18.
UBL continues to play a major role in the intermediation space. Domestic performing loans increased by 36 percent over last year to average at Rs 469.4 billion. In line with its commitment to ensure easy access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the Bank increased SME loans by 27 percent. UBL has also emerged as an active player in the Consumer segment as average advances closed 35 percent higher.
As a result of the strong business momentum across all core segments in 2018, the domestic franchise witnessed fee growth of over 26 percent in the current year.
UBL serves over 5 million customers across all geographies in Pakistan, through a nationwide branch network of 1,362 branches, 1,427 ATMs and over 37,000 branchless banking agents.
Acquiring new customers across Pakistan remains the Bank's core objective. During this period, the Bank has added 446,000 new customers to the UBL banking platform.
As leaders in the innovation space, with the commercial launch of 'UBL Digital', a banking app and net banking portal, UBL is spearheading the penetration of digital banking in the country. The app has been well received by the market with around 600K downloads and throughput of over 2.7 million transactions within a short span of time.
UBL serves overseas Pakistanis and their family members back home, through money transfer and investment products with a leading 30 percent market share in 2018. An aggregate of USD 4.4 billion in home remittances have reached Pakistan through the dedicated and efficient fund transfer facilities offered by the Bank.
The Bank is committed to playing a pivotal role in Pakistan's economic development by broadening access to financial services and investing in sectors that drive the country's growth engine.-PR
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