Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Tuesday, 19 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
a significantly improved financial performance in the first half of 2014 with improved margins and showed a notable growth in fee based income and trading gains.
This broad-based performance enabled the bank to continue its growth.
The bank mobilised Rs. 23.7 billion deposits during the first six months of the year, recording a growth of 5%, on par with industry growth, and its deposit base stood at Rs. 522.4 billion as of 30 June 2014.
Total assets grew by 4% to Rs. 680.7 billion as of 30 June 2014 underpinned by the growth of investments.
Held-to-maturity financial assets which mainly consist of Treasury bonds grew by 5.5% to reach Rs. 456.3 billion. Held-for-trading portfolio also increased by 4% to Rs.14.3 billion by the end of June, which was mainly due to the increase in trading the Government securities portfolio to explore trading opportunities in declining market interest rates scenario.
Loans and advances to customers recorded a favourable growth of 2.5% as against the growth of 1.4% during the first half of 2013 and also compared with the movements in the industry during the first six months of 2014. The lower growth of loans and advances was attributable to the decreasing value of pawning portfolio.
Interest income increased by Rs. 6 billion to Rs. 36 billion recording a growth of 20% while interest expenses increased only by 5% to Rs. 27 billion in 1H 2014 from Rs. 26 billion recorded in the same period last year. Higher growth of interest income and comparatively lower increase in interest cost contributed to increase net interest income by 116% to Rs. 8.7 billion in 1H 2014 from Rs. 4.0 billion in 1H 2013. This resulted in improving the net interest margin to 2.60% by end June 2014 from 1.67% recorded at end 2013.
Return on average assets (before tax) improved to 0.81% at 30 June 2014 from 0.39% recorded at the end of 2013. Return on average equity rose to 15.8% by the end of June 2014 from 5.2% recorded at the end of 2013. The cost to income ratio improved to 49.4% in 1H 2014 from 76.5% in 1H 2013 and the improvement was mainly due to the increase in net interest income.
The bank’s capital strength was reflected in ratios that were well above the regulatory standards for well-capitalised banks, with a Tier 1 ratio of 17.8%, and total capital adequacy ratio of 16.31% at 30 June 2014. Liquidity ratio of the bank stood at 89.5% at 30 June 2014, which is well above the regulatory requirement of 20%.
The Group’s post tax profit increased by 155% to Rs. 1.9 billion in 1H 2014 from Rs. 753 million in 1H 2013.
The first six months’ performance reflects the successful implementation of the business strategies indentified in the strategic business plan of the Bank. Some of the areas focused during the period were expansion of retail lending, providing financial support for mega infrastructure projects, mobilisation of low cost deposits, introduction of long term savings plans, new banking products and improved efficiency of customer services.
The bank’s AAA local credit rating was reaffirmed for the 12th successive year by Fitch Ratings Lanka. NSB is the first local bank to receive an AAA credit rating from Fitch and to maintain the same for 12 consecutive years. The international credit rating of the bank which is on par with the sovereign rating was reaffirmed in July 2014. The bank obtained international credit rating for the first time in 2013 from Fitch Ratings (BB-) and S&P Rating Agency (B+).
