LAHORE: A meeting of the Board of Directors of The Bank of Punjab was held on August 28, to consider and approve the un-audited Financial Statements for the 1st Half of year ended June 30, 2024.

During the meeting, the Board reviewed Bank’s performance for 1st Half of the year 2024against strategic business plan and appreciated the effort of BOP Management for showing a remarkable growth of 80 percent in profit before tax and showing marked improvement in all facets of operations.

During 1st Half 2024, Bank earned before tax profit of Rs 7.05 billion as against 3.92 billion during 1st Half 2023 showing a remarkable growth of 80 percent. Non-Markup/Interest Income increased to Rs 9.93 billion as against Rs 5.73 billion for 1st Half 2023 registering a significant growth of 73 percent.

Bank’s Net Interest Margin (NIM) remained at Rs 15.92 billion while Non-Markup Expenses remained at Rs 22.20 billion. Earnings per Share (EPS) for the 1st Half 2024 improved to Rs 1.33 per share as against Rs 1.05 per share during 1st Half 2023.

As at June 30, 2024, Bank’s total assets improved to Rs 2,269 billion as against Rs 2,054 billion as of June 30, 2023 depicting a growth of 10 percent. The deposits of the bank also improved to Rs 1,582 billion as against Rs 1,370 billion as of June 30, 2023 registering a growth of 15 percent. Investments & lending to FIs improved to Rs 1,293 billion registering a growth of 40 percent over June 30, 2023.

Gross advances were recorded at Rs 705 billion. Bank’s Equity improved to Rs 77 billion as against Rs 67 billion as on June 30, 2023 and Capital Adequacy Ratio stood at 17.61% against regulatory requirement of 11.50 percent.

The Bank has been assigned long term entity rating of “AA+” by M/s PACRA with short term rating being at the highest rank of “A1+”. The Bank currently has a network of 822 online branches, including 163 Taqwa Islamic Banking Branches and 15 sub-branches.

Further, the Bank has a network of 835 ATMs providing 24/7 banking services to the customers. Besides, Bank is also offering a wide range of products/services to its valued clients including branchless banking, mobile banking, internet banking, credit card and cash management services.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024