The Board of Directors of the SME Bank Ltd appreciated performance of the Bank in its last meeting held on July 16, 2011. According to a press release issued by the SME Bank Ltd here on Friday, the Chairman of the Board commended the efforts made by the Management which took charge of affairs of the bank in March 2011 and noted that all the key indicators are showing positive trends after several years.
He was pleased that the Management has made such laudable progress in such a short time. All the Members also expressed satisfaction over the achievements made by the new management and hoped that the President and Management would continue their efforts with same zest and vigour for further reducing the operating losses and achieving an early turnaround.
SME Bank Ltd has shown unprecedented growth in financial results during 2nd quarter (April-June) of 2011. The Deposit base of the Bank has expanded by 24 percent thus increasing its capacity for lending to small and medium enterprises. Advances have also increased with many more proposals in the pipeline for disbursement.
Most importantly, non-performing loans of the Bank have been brought down considerably resulting into reversal in provisions which have increased quarterly income of Bank by 138 percent. Resultantly, earning per share has improved by 30 percent on quarterly basis. SME Leasing-a subsidiary of SME Bank is also on the right track and has exhibited improvement in performance. These results have been achieved through ongoing restructuring of the Bank undertaken by the new management and renewed vigour instilled in the employees.
An allocation of Rs 2.0 billion has also been made in the current budget by GOP for enhancement of Bank's capital. This coupled with the progressive steps taken by the incumbent Management has rendered the Bank in a position to serve its clients through its branches all over Pakistan with financial assistance on competitive rates.-PR