NIB Bank Limited (formerly NDLC-IFIC Bank Limited) is a scheduled commercial bank and is principally engaged in the business of banking as defined in the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962. It was incorporated in March 2003 as a public listed company. It is listed on all the three stock exchanges of Pakistan.
In June 2005, Temasek Holdings of Singapore, through its indirect subsidiary Bugis Investments (Mauritius) Pte. Limited, acquired over 70% shares of NIB Bank. Temasek, the investment arm of the Government of Singapore, is a premier international investor in the process of establishing a pan-Asian banking presence.
The investment in NIB Bank is its first investment in Pakistan and in terms of amount it is the largest non-privatization investment by any foreign investor in a bank incorporated in Pakistan.
This foreign investment also showcases the confidence of foreign interest in Pakistan's banking sector and will greatly improve not only the image and performance of NIB Bank, but also Pakistan's investment profile. The bank has a countrywide network of 240 branches (2006: 41 branches). Rated by PACRA "A+" in long-term and "A1" in short term with a positive outlook.
On December 31, following the approval from the SBP, NIB successfully merged with Pakistan Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation Ltd. (PICIC) and PICIC Commercial Bank Ltd. (PCBL). With total assets swelling up to Rs 176.7 billion, advances to Rs 82.2 billion and deposits to an amount of Rs 116.7 billion, the merger resulted in formation of the seventh largest commercial bank of the country in terms of its distribution network.
The network will help bank access under-banked segments and also offer cross-sell products to half a million customers of the merged bank. The stable and lower cost deposit base of PICIC will allow NIB to grow advances without having to raise deposits at a high marginal cost. The merger also resulted in making PICIC Asset Management Company managing almost Rs 20 billion which is now a subsidiary of NIB.
The bank is looking forward to merge this subsidiary with National Fullerton Asset Management Company (NAFA). This will result in Pakistan's largest asset management company. NIB, pending regulatory approval, will also acquire 100% of Global Securities Pakistan Limited, which is one of the Pakistan's leading corporate finance and stock broking firms.
Post acquisition, the investment banking and advisory business of Global, which is responsible for more than 50% of all privatizations in Pakistan, will be divested and merged into the Corporate and Investment Banking Group of NIB, creating a new growth area for the bank. Further, NIB has acquired 30% shares of PICIC Insurance Company, a 3-year old listed general insurance company.
RECENT PERFORMANCE (Q1 FY08) After the merger, in the first quarter ending March 2008, NIB reported a profit after tax Rs 161 million. This was wholly an increase of 627% from Rs 22.1 million (Q1FY07). Net interest income after provisions increased by 118% (Q-o-Q) to reach Rs 747 million (342 million Q1, 2007). The increase has been brought because of an increase in the advances and the corresponding increase in return. Non-interest income has increased by 522% (Q-o-Q) over the period last year to Rs 688 million.
The major increase has been contributed by the fee, commission and brokerage income along with gain on sale of securities and also the dividend income (428 million). Major chunk of the dividend income, around Rs 300 million, was generated by PICIC Asset Management Company, which is a newly acquired subsidiary by NIB. The bank has increased its branch network from 41 to 240, which caused the non-interest expense of the bank, mainly attributable to the administrative expenses, to grow to Rs 1.2 billion in Q1 FY08 from Rs 418 million Q1 FY07.
Continuing with the positive growth trend, the total assets increased to Rs 183.17 billion in Q1 FY08. The increase was attributable to lending to financial institutions (Rs 7.37 billion) but the effect was nullified by the decrease in investments by an amount of Rs 5.7bn (a major reduction of Rs 4.95bn in market T-bills was observed in the period under review). In the same quarter, the company also issued ordinary shares of Rs 7.65 billion resulting in Rs 28.43 billion of total paid up share capital.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE (FY03-FY07) NIB Bank's balance sheet size grew from Rs 46.4 billion in December 2006 to Rs 176.65 billion in December 2007. This phenomenal increase is mainly attributed to the successful acquisition of PICIC along with internal growth of NIB.
To finance this merger one of the biggest rights offerings were made in the history totalling to Rs 18.2 billion accompanied by some 641 million shares to the shareholders of PICIC and of PCBL. Through this acquisition, the bank acquired control of PICIC, PICB and PICIC Asset Management Company. At the date, this Rs 28.4 billion was the second highest paid-up capital amount among all banks in Pakistan.
Over the years, assets have shown a positive growth with a landmark increase of 281% in FY07 to Rs 176.65 billion. This total assets growth is backed by investments, advances and the operating fixed assets. Investments rose to 40.5bn showing an increase of 517% during the year. Major investments of Rs 19bn took place in market T-bills accompanied by ordinary shares, Modaraba certificates and TFCs.
Total advances increased by 165% in the period 2007 to an amount of Rs 82.16 billion. The advances compose of 70% high yielding commercial and consumer loans as well as SME loans. It is important to notice that in FY07 the advances to textile reduced to 28% from 35% (FY06).
On the other hand, advances to sugar industry and wholesale and retailers increased to 5% (1.21% FY06) and 9% (4.7% FY06) respectively. This trend reflects the bank's stated strategy to grow and generate higher returns from diversified assets base. Operating fixed assets augmented by almost 50 folds to Rs 30.8 billion. This exceptional growth is due to newly created intangible asset (Goodwill) of Rs 26.77 billion. Similarly, the property and equipment rose by Rs 2.8 billion thus adding to the total amount of operating assets.
Deposits have continued to grow impressively to Rs 116.67 billion, almost 281% magnification over Rs 30.55 billion in FY06. Through focused marketing efforts in selected segments, NIB has increased its proportion of current and savings accounts to total deposits to 21% and 31% respectively in FY07 as compared to 11.5% and 20.6% in FY06. In FY07 fixed deposits were 43% while in FY06, these were 60%.
ADR has improved significantly over the years. However, in FY07 the ADR has reduced to 77% signifying substantial room to increase advances without taking on expensive deposits. The industry ADR was 68% which means that NIB has utilized its deposits effectively as compared to its peers.
The cost of funding earning assets was high in FY06 as the bank depended upon fixed deposits (60% of total deposits) but later this cost reduced. At the same time, the yield on earning assets also showed a decline as compared to FY06, as the share of fixed deposits reduced to 43% of total deposits in FY07.
In order to maximize its post merger capital structure the bank financed the acquisition through a combination of rights issue and commercial debt. The bank also had to borrow to bridge finance the funding gap limiting up to Rs 7.1 billion for the period ended December 2007.
This funding cost added to the borrowings from financial institutions and hence to the total liabilities. The total loss was reported Rs 350 million in FY07. Although the aforementioned numbers are showing a very promising performance of the bank but a 350mn loss occurred due to change in the policy of SBP.
In October 2007, according to SBP's regulation, the banks were deprived of the benefit of deducting the value of collateral thus the provisions against non-performing loans swelled up to multiple times as the FSV benefit was missing.
Consequently, the banking industry at large suffered losses in the last quarter of FY07. If the FSV benefit had been intact the profit after tax would have been soared up to Rs 217 million.
Therefore, the losses do not reflect any inherent weakness in profit generating capability of the bank. The asset quality is not pleasing with NPLs/advances rising from 3.3% to 16.13%. Provisioning expense is higher than in the same period last year due to a growth in volumes of loans and advances as well as FSV removal and slower collections in some products.
Collections are expected to come back on target in subsequent months. The Bank is continuing to invest heavily in understanding, designing and delivering customer-centric business models for each of the commercial, SME and consumer segments.
Total non-interest income stood at Rs 598 million which is 21% higher than last year. But this increase is offset by a 64% increase in non-interest expenses. Non-interest expenses rose more than proportionate due to the administrative costs of takeover and conversion of branches. But conversion effort costs have a positive future outlook so it is not much of a problem.
Taking a look at earnings ratios all of them has shown a falling trend mainly due to the fact that growth in equity and assets is not matched by profitability. This is apparent in the graph given below. Over the years the ROE has not been satisfactory as they are merely around 3% while the industry observed a ROE of 23%.
The lower ROE is a result of an increase in the equity through the recent activities. The other ratio like ROA of the industry was 2%. This shows that NIB needs to better utilize its assets.
The debt management ratios were on slide. The total debt increased by 237% but it was matched by assets growth of 281% therefore the debt to asset ratio did not show any significant change.
Similarly, the equity grew by a record breaking of 555% (rights issue of 18.6 billion) hence the debt to equity fell to almost half. A significant increase in investments as a share of earning assets can be seen in FY07. Advances have increased by 165% over the same period but it was less than proportionate to the increase in total assets, while the investments increased by 517%, which contributed more to the total of earning assets.

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N.I.B. Bank Ltd. - Financials
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Balance Sheet
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ASSETS                                           2003          2004          2005          2006          2007
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Cash and balances with treasury banks         330,953       974,659     2,085,141     2,928,404    10,318,722
Balances with other banks                      17,334       309,218     1,966,118     1,362,497     1,401,796
Lending to financial Institutions             347,579     1,812,907     2,270,000     2,600,000     4,753,113
Investments                                   951,957       766,716     5,129,285     6,558,733    40,498,840
Advances                                    6,791,963    12,158,088    19,622,929    31,052,169    82,160,074
Other Assets                                  185,960       406,486       576,691     1,172,363     3,353,958
Operating fixed assets                         67,283       129,389       368,551       622,216    30,800,135
Deferred tax assets                                 -             -             -       127,158     3,366,766
Total Assets                                8,693,029    16,557,463    32,018,715    46,423,540   176,653,404
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LIABILITIES
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Bills payable                                  74,467        98,620       274,325       215,769     2,110,211
Borrowings from financial institutions      1,975,230     4,159,194     4,547,096     9,164,121    16,669,412
Deposits and other accounts                 4,778,974    10,648,570    22,554,274    30,566,540   116,671,219
Liabilities against assets                          0             -             -             -         7,176
 subject to finance lease
Redeemabale capital                           166,607             -             -             -             -
Deferred tax liabilities                      198,531        98,911         2,465             -             -
Other liabilities                             239,770       188,320       427,680     2,150,538     4,603,352
Total Liabilities                           7,433,579    15,193,615    27,805,840    42,096,968   140,061,370
NET ASSETS                                    4075590       4058050       3529391     4,326,572    36,592,034
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REPRESENTED BY
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Share capital                               1,229,041     1,229,041     3,361,522     3,361,522    22,017,968
Reserves                                        9,603        34,125       694,623       719,810       719,810
Unappropriated profit                          16,522       114,609       197,626       298,376      -143,392
                                            1,255,186     1,377,775     4,253,771     4,379,708    22,594,386
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Shares to be issued
(Deficit) on revaluation of securities - n      4,284       -13,927       -40,896       -47,833       -28,529
Total Equity                                1,259,450     1,363,848     4,212,875     4,331,875    36,592,034
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Income Statement
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Mark-up/return/interest earned                172,372       803,542     1,716,917     3,473,364     6,999,888
Mark-up/return/interest expensed               82,552       412,680     1,118,957     2,452,192     4,995,955
Net mark-up/interest income                    89,820       390,862       597,960     1,021,172     2,003,933
Provision against non-performing advances       7,794        73,255       120,931       269,583     1,494,801
Provision for diminution in investment value        -             -       -29,643             -             -
-7,794       -73,255       -91,288      -269,583    -1,494,801
Net mark-up/interest income after provision    82,026       317,607       506,672       751,589       509,132
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NON MARK-UP/INTERST INCOME
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Fee, commission and broerage income             4,299        40,418        91,707       179,994       249,020
Dividend income                                 1,125        16,015        16,668        14,528        13,723
Income from foreign currencies                    783        25,596       109,145       208,627       225,235
Gain on sale of securities                          -        12,806         4,040           222        24,021
Other income                                    1,499        16,732        14,599        90,635        86,772
Total non mark-up/interest income               7,706       111,567       236,159       494,006       598,771
Total Income                                   89,732       429,174       742,831     1,245,595     1,107,903
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NON MARK-UP/INTEREST EXPENSE
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Administrative expenses                        61,987       393,719       711,545     1,221,423     2,002,159
Other (reversals) / provisions / write off          -         3,964           327          -328         2,669
Other charges                                       -           158         1,182         2,587         2,133
Total non mark-up/interest expenses           -61,987      -397,841      -713,054    -1,223,682    -2,006,961
Share of profit / (loss) from associates            0             -        -2,776             -       327,851
Profit before taxation                         27,745        31,333        27,001        21,913      -571,207
Taxation - Current                             -8,682       -14,031       -20,178       -33,422       -37,925
Prior years                                         -         5,687             -             -             -
Deferred                                        1,590        99,620        96,948       129,367       258,575
                                               -7,092        91,276        76,770        95,945       220,650
Profit after taxation                           20653        122609        103771        117858       -350557
Unappropriated profit brought forward               -        16,522       103,771       197,626       293,073
Profits available for appropriations           20,653       139,131       207,542       315,484       -57,484
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Financial Ratios
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EARNING RATIOS
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Return on Deposits                              0.43%         1.59%         0.63%         0.44%        -0.48%
Return on Assets                                0.24%         0.97%         0.43%         0.30%        -0.31%
Return on Equity                                1.64%         9.35%         3.72%         2.76%        -1.71%
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LIQUIDITY RATIOS
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Advances to Deposit Ratio                        1.42          1.23          0.96          0.95          0.77
Yield on earning assets                          0.02          0.21          0.25          0.31          0.25
Cost of funding earning assets                   0.01          0.11          0.16          0.22          0.18
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ASSET QUALITY RATIO
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Non-Performing Loans                        1,514,243     1,464,030       699,033     1,023,868    13,252,316
NPLs to advances                                 0.22          0.12          0.04          0.03          0.16
Provisions to NPLs                               0.01          0.05          0.17          0.26          0.11
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SOLVENCY RATIOS
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Equity to Assets                               14.49%        10.39%        11.48%        10.89%        18.35%
Equity to Deposits                             26.35%        17.00%        16.80%        16.09%        27.79%
Earning assets to Deposits                    169.31%        49.33%        41.92%        42.19%        37.95%
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DEBT MANAGEMENT RATIOS
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Debt to Asset                                    0.86          0.90          0.89          0.89          0.82
Debt to Equity                                   5.90          8.63          7.71          8.18          4.45
Deposit times capital                            3.79          5.88          5.95          6.22          3.60
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MARKET VALUE RATIOS
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Price/Earnings Ratio                           107.29         19.70         66.07        116.76        -69.90
Market to book value                             1.79          1.74          2.35          1.88          2.18
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DIVIDEND RATIOS
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Dividend Per share                               0.00          0.00          0.00          0.00          0.00
Dividend yield                                   0.00          0.00          0.00          0.00          0.00
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NIB Bank continued its strong growth momentum in 2006, both in terms of volumes as well as top line revenue. Total assets increased by Rs 14,410 mln to Rs 46,429 mln in December 2006 and total revenues increased by 82% reaching Rs 1,515 mln in 2006. Gross mark up earned doubled from Rs 1,717 mln to Rs 3,499 mln between 2005 and 2006 and net mark up earned grew 75% in the same period.
The addition of new customers and incremental business from existing customers allowed non mark up income to increase 98% from Rs 236 mln to Rs 468 mln. By effectively cross selling trade-related products, foreign exchange volumes at USD 1,012 mln in 2006 showed a 59% increase over 2005 as well as better profitability per unit of foreign currency.
The strong revenue growth highlighted above was supported by expanding its fully on-line branch network from 27 to 41 in December 2006 in 14 cities and by installing 23 ATMs during the year. This rapid expansion of their franchise supported revenue growth as well as strengthened its risk management and other support functions.
As a result of this expansion, operating costs increased to Rs 1,224mn in 2006 from Rs 713mn in 2005. Despite the substantial increase in operating costs, the cost to revenue ratio reduced to 81% in 2006 from 85% in 2005. The cost to revenue is consistent with its business plan and reasonable for a bank which is in its development stage.
In mid 2006, the bank launched a very successful Personal Installment Loan product. The monthly disbursals of this product were higher than those of other banks that have been selling this product for some years. The collection experience to date on such loans has also been better than the expectations.
The Prudential Regulations require a 5% general provisioning against the total outstanding balance on such loans at the year end. This being the first year, the regulatory requirement has generated a non-tax deductible provision charge of Rs 194mn in 2006 profit and loss account of the bank. It is important to highlight that this charge acts as a reserve and not an actual provision related to specific loans going bad.
Despite the general provisioning explained above, profit after tax showed an increase in 2006, primarily as a result of tax credits related to the acquisition of Credit Agricole Pakistan. Operating profit before provisions increased by 154% over 2005 to reach Rs 300mn in 2006.
For NIB, the return on assets trend is increasing up-till 2004, but fell in 2005 and recovered in 2006. The reason for this can be attributed to the declining profit after tax mainly due a high provision for NPLs. ROD indicating the return that the bank is receiving from its deposits, is higher than the ROA but follows a trend similar it, solely due to the smaller amount of deposits that the bank has compared to its assets base as the numerator is same for both the ratios.
It has been increasing till '05. This rise is due to the bank's better profitability as it becomes a major player in the financial market. However, like ROA it nose-dived in '05 for owing to declining profit after tax but recovered in 2006 due to increase in 2006 PAT.
Around 99% deposits are from the customers while the remaining 1% is from the financial institutions. Also 92% is in local currency while 8% is in foreign currency. The sectoral analysis of deposits further revealed that 40% deposits are held by individuals and 11 and 10% from financial and non-profit organizations (trusts) respectively. The share of other sectors is very minimal ranging from 6% (transport, storage and communications) to 0.03% (sugar).
The trend for ROE is similar to that of ROA with a rapid increase from 2001 to 2002, as the bank was relatively newer in 2001 but by 2002 it started solidifying its customer base, thus leading to a rise in revenues and profits, becoming a boon to investors.
This is proven by the calculation of the percentage increase in profits by 72.07% in this one year time frame. Whilst the bank was not issuing a great number of shares, hence the ratio kept rising till 2004 after which it fell in 2005. This is explained by a rise in profits being less than the rise in equity. The ratio recovered again in 2006 on the account of improved profit after tax in '06.
The asset quality of the bank has declined 2003 onwards as the NPLs and provisions rose sharply as a percentage of the total advances and NPLs respectively. The bank's NPLs as a percentage of gross advances reduced slightly from 3.46% in 2005 to 3.21% in 2006. Improved collection efforts led to provision reversals of Rs 74 million, plus recoveries against written-off loans of Rs 12.5 million in 2006. However, mainly due to regulatory requirements, provisioning against loans and advances increased by Rs 179 million.
The overall asset quality is considered acceptable in the light of the current competitive scenario. Collections are expected to come back on target in subsequent months. The Bank is continuing to invest heavily in understanding, designing and delivering customer-centric business models for each of the commercial, SME and consumer segments.
These unique business models, will provide superior service, faster turnaround time and above all, will help it in building lasting relationships with its customers. Sectoral analysis of advances revealed that around 35% of loans were given to the textiles sector, 6% for export/import purposes and the 20% to the individuals.
The share of other sectors is lower than these. However, as some doubtful loans have the tendency to stay under cover for sometime due to different reasons, a prudent policy for NIB Bank would be that the management remains extra vigilant in the appraisal and monitoring of all loans.
Recently, the SBP proposed 100% cash provisioning for non-performing loans (NPLs). This is likely to decrease banks' profitability by 40%. Like all other banks, PICB's asset quality is also likely to further deteriorate, if it doesn't increase its advances considerably.
Trend for advances to deposits ratio (ADR), a key indicator of how liquid the bank's assets are, show that it has been fluctuating. While the ratio fell after 2003, it recovered in 2004, thus slightly rising till FY06.
The reason for its initial decline was the rise in deposits not being offset by an equal or greater rise in advances. The slight growth in average advances (62%) in 2005 was much higher than the growth in average deposits 60% in the same period, leading to a rise in the ADR then onwards.
In 2006 as well, average advances rose by 23% which was not matched by deposits that rose by a lower 15%, thus setting the stage for another increase in the ratio. Although the loan to deposit ratio appears to be high from the B/S figures it is at an acceptable level when export refinance and lease key money adjustments are made.
Earning assets to assets simply calculates that what proportion of the assets held by the bank is actually helping to generate revenue for it. The earning assets of NIB are lending to financial institutions, investments, and advances. These three assets help generate income for the bank.
The trend as shown by the graph is similar to ADR trend that shows a comparatively higher ratio in 2003, and there was a decline then onwards which can be explained by an increase in the total assets which are not offset by an equal or greater increase in the earning assets.
Therefore that particular increase in assets can be explained by an increase in bank's cash balances, balances with other banks, again liquid, and the increase in operating fixed and other assets. This is not a good sign for NIB as it means that it has money tied up in assets which are more or less "idle" as they are not helping it in generating income which is the ultimate motive of any profit driven enterprise.
However, it remained stagnant in 2004 onwards as well as in FY06 due to same proportionate increase in assets and earning assets, thereby maintaining the same ratio as in the same period last year. The trend lines for both, the yield on earning assets and cost of funding them, depict a rising trend till and continued to rise sharply after 2005 till 2006.
The reason for this trend can certainly be the fact that the interest rates were comparatively low till 2004, but show a sharp rise 2005 onwards after the tight monetary stance by SBP. Also NIB was investing in low interest bearing options initially but later changed its stance.
Given its relatively young age, the bank initially did not have access to a large pool of low cost deposits. Consequently, the advances growth was financed through new deposits which, under tight monetary conditions and intense market competition, came at a premium, thereby increasing the cost of funds.Despite this, it managed to improve its net interest spread by 53 basis points between 2005 and 2006 by improving the yield on advances and increasing the proportion of current accounts in the deposit portfolio.
By improving the lending composition towards higher yielding products sold to commercial and consumer customer segments, the yield on interest earning assets improved by 198 basis points between 2005 and 2006.
Through focused marketing efforts in selected segments, NIB is increasing its proportion of current/ savings accounts to total deposits as well as reducing its average deposit size, thereby developing a more low cost and stable deposit base. This positive change has so far improved the liquidity profile of the bank.
The solvency ratios are even stricter measure of the liquidity of a bank's assets. Equity to assets indicates the use of equity in financing the bank's assets. This ratio has seen an overall decline 2003 onwards.A slight decline in the ratio in FY06 can be attributed to a higher increase in NIB's assets base than its equity base reflecting its rapid growth strategy.
The increase in total assets has been managed largely through additional deposits. Growth in total assets has not been achieved through corresponding increase in equity, which as a percentage of total assets has reduced to 9.4% (December 31, 2005: 11%). Of the total, NIB Bank has 78% investments in available-for-sale securities while 23% are in held-to-maturity securities.
Equity to deposits ratio further contrasts two modes of financing. While equity is an entire category, deposits are a very important section of liabilities for a bank since the finance for a bank's operations as well as investing activities comes primarily from deposits.
The trend is similar to that of equity to assets. The ratio fell 2003 onwards. This depicts that the use of equity for financing is tapering compared to the use of borrowings, deposits and other funds like NAFA funds. This is a good sign for the bank as it may mean less volatile earning payments.
However, it may increase bank's borrowing costs. The declining trend on the account of higher proportionate increase in deposits than in equity base, shows that like all the other banks, NIB is also attracting larger deposits from its customers.
Earning assets to deposits ratio shows a contrast between the bank's reliance on earning assets over deposits with respect to revenue generation. As we can observe in the graph, this ratio has declined after 2003 but has been on a slight rise after that.
The initial decline may be explained through the fact that as the bank grows in size and operations, it attracts a greater deposit base; hence the rise in deposits is much greater than average earnings assets.
In later years (after 2004) average earning assets and deposits both are increasing however, the rise in deposits is being offset by a slightly higher increase in earning assets (mainly due to higher investments and advances).
Debt management ratios are important to calculate for any bank as they are an indicator of the extent to which the bank is using debt financing or financial leverage. And it helps the bank gauge if it is in trouble and whether or not it should reduce its reliance on debt in the near future.
The picture of NIB in this regard is quite alarming as around 90% of assets in all 4 periods have been financed using liabilities. This may be dangerous for the bank as its risk of liquidation is higher than it can ever be. The creditors can call their funding or withdraw them whenever they want and in that case of liquidation, the bank can quite easily go bankrupt.
The trend is more or less constant, with the percentage lingering between 86 and 91 percent throughout the range. NIB should try and reduce its reliance on debt for future periods and instead try to raise finance through issuance of shares.
Debt to equity ratio measures the reliance of the bank upon the funds invested by the owners as compared to the reliance of the bank on liabilities for raising capital. A high ratio would indicate liability reliance surpassing equity reliance and vice versa. The ratio is above 4 in all cases which obviously means that liabilities are a major source of finance as compared to share capital.
The trend shows that the ratio steadily increased from 2003 through 2005, owing to the rise in liabilities being much more than the rise in equity, but later declined considerably due to a comparatively greater increase in assets than liabilities. This trend is further confirm by the deposit times capital ratio showing that increase in debts is mainly due to a rise in deposits of NIB.
According to the notes to the financial statements, capital adequacy ratio works out to 11.61% as on December 31, 2006 (2005: 17.42%) as against prescribed minimum equivalent to 8% of the risk weighted assets of the banking company.
Among the market value ratios, the market to book ratio continued to show an erratic trend on the account of fluctuating market prices compared with very modest increases in BV. However, this ratio declined in 2006 owing to the rise in BV/share (mainly due to a rise in unappropriated profits) coupled with the decline in market price from 29.7 to 24.
The P/E multiple of NIB, that also shows an erratic trend remained flat in '06 despite the fall in market price. This is due to a much lower EPS in 2006.No dividend payments are made by NIB as its pursuing a rapid growth policy and its retaining all of its profits for its expansion programme.
Budgetary impact NSS rates up by 2%: NSS rates have been increased by 2% and will be reviewed every three months. This will intensify the competition for the banks as they will have to offer better deposit rates in order to get hands on contracting liquidity. This will not directly affect the banks as the given government paper and saving schemes are not marketed. 0.1% increase in withholding tax: Withholding tax (WHT) on cash withdrawal has been increased by 0.1% to 0.3% on cash withdrawals of over PKR 25,000.
The change is insignificant in a sense that it'll be passed on to customers and hence the profitability of banks is safe. FED on banking services has been increased to 10% and will be passed on to consumers. With demand being inelastic, profitability should remain unaffected.
FUTURE OUTLOOK The operating environment for banks in 2008 will continue to be very challenging in the wake of intense competition in the pricing of assets and liabilities. The SBP's policies are constantly squeezing the spreads and therefore, the profitability of banks. Other challenges are from banking alternatives like the increase of 2% on NSS. Now the banks would have to struggle to get hold of already shrinking liquidity.
To ascertain its profitability the bank, as part of strategy has begun to convert a significant number of its 240 branches to serve its selected sub-segments in the SME sector which offers higher yields. The bulk of this conversion is taking place in Q2, 2008 and primarily involves the addition of staff and improvement in hardware and technology.
In the short run, therefore, this conversion will increase costs for NIB, however, by Q4, 2008 many of the converted branches will generate net positive cash flows. The planned conversions should result in a strong increase in customer base and market share in these segments. The initial results of pilots in these segments are believed to be very encouraging given the lower cost of funds from these branches supplanted by higher yielding assets.
NIB also expects to accrue dividends from its main revenue producing subsidiary, PICIC Asset Management Company (PICIC AMC) given that the performance of this subsidiary has improved substantially after the acquisition. In Q1 2008 PICIC AMC provided dividends of Rs 300 million to NIB and it is expected that this amount will grow by approximately 50% in Q2 2008.
Thereafter it is planned that PICIC AMC will merge with NAFA, another asset management company in which NIB has a 27% shareholding. Work on the merger is at an advanced stage and it is expected that the merger will take place in Q2 or Q3, 2008.
As a consequence of the merger it is expect that a substantial portion of the capital currently invested in PICIC AMC will be released which will help fund future growth at NIB. In light of current results of Q1FY08 the bank is looking forward to profitable and yet competitive opportunities.
COURTESY: Economics and Finance Department, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, prepared this analytical report for Business Recorder.
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