On June 30, 2010 the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has become the first ever bank in the country to cross the Rs 1 trillion 'benchmark'; total assets stand at Rs 1,008 billion compared to Rs 944 billion at the end of year 2009 where as the deposit base have grown approximately by Rs 120 billion in the last two year.
Dr Mirza Abrar Baig, SEVP/Group Chief HRM and AG of NBP, disclosed this while addressing the students of Insurance and Risk Management at Hailey College of Commerce Lahore, disclosed a NBP's spokesperson here on Friday. He also said according to the recently announced 'The Best Bank Award 2010' by The Banker Magazine of UK, the NBP is the only Pakistani bank in top 500 that has excelled in performance against all the banks in Pakistan based on strength, size, soundness, profit and performance.
He stated that the bank over the years has strengthened its customer retention, penetration and profitability to its maximum. "The bank has continued to diversify its revenue base by creating additional specialised business group to focus on the recovery of non-performing loans, increase the volume of domestic remittance and enhance revenues streams through equity portfolio investments. NBP has positioned itself for further growth by building capacity in human resources and IT, as well as upgrading its infrastructure to ensure operational efficiency and better customer service," he added.
According to him, despite recession NBP continues to hire quality human resource through its Management Trainee Programme, which are high calibre business graduates and have been inducted through a rigorous selection process under the auspices of IBP, as the bank believe that it is the quality of human resources that would provide a strong basis for sustainable growth and competitive edge for the institution.
Dr Mirza Abrar Baig also mentioned that NBP is the only organisation working specifically on women empowerment. "Every year, we have 30 percent quota for women in the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) hiring. They have 40 women working as managers in different branches and we have noticed around 50 percent improvement in the working environment due to their leadership skills," he added.
He said this is not the end, the bank has to travel some extra miles and gather its energies to further strengthen its deposit base, reduce non-performing portfolio and control expenses where possible to increase the overall profitability of our institutions and serve as a true nation's bank.