The Board of Directors of Silkbank Limited, in its meeting held on Thursday, reviewed the performance of the Bank and approved the financial statements for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2018. The Bank has posted a profit before tax of Rs 401 million and profit after tax of Rs 260 million.
This translates into a growth of 87 percent and 91 percent, respectively, over the same period last year. This performance was driven by a formidable growth of 23 percent in Net Interest Income, with Non-Interest Income also reflecting an impressive rise of 62 percent.
During the quarter, total deposits of the Bank grew by 10 percent, ie an increase by Rs 11.3 billion to Rs 121.6 billion, primarily via a significant growth of 17 percent in CASA.
This has led the CASA ratio to improve by 4 percent from 61 percent as of end December, 2017 to 65 percent in Q1 2018. Gross advances increased by Rs 5.7 billion reflecting a growth of 6.3 percent. Net infection ratio improved to 2 percent in Q1 2018 as against 2.5 percent as at end December 2017.
Coverage ratio also improved from 64 percent to 68 percent.
In order to provide a platform to cater for the unbanked population, the Bank is planning to launch shortly Digital Banking to increase its outreach and its distribution footprint. Additionally, the Bank will also increase the number of branches at strategic locations across the country which will enhance the Bank's ability to mobilize deposits and subsequently lend and invest increasingly in earning assets.-PR