Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC concluded 2020 Q1 with the best ever financial results in a first quarter of an year in its 25 year history to report a Profit before tax of Rs.652 Mn and Profit after tax of Rs.416 million, recording an impressive growth of 53% in both, demonstrating resilience amidst challenging conditions.
The Bank’s operating profit before taxes on financial services for the quarter increased by 22% reflecting solid overall core banking performance, effective assets and liabilities management and excellence in NPL management, although prudential impairment provisioning undermined the bank’s operating profits to an extent. The Bank consciously increased impairment provision buffers during Q1 to deal with probable general deterioration in asset quality due to the impact of COVID 19 pandemic.
The Bank’s growth in both profit before income tax and profit for the quarter was also supported by the low financial services taxes regime prevailed throughout the current quarter.
The Bank’s net interest margins improved from 4.36% to 4.78% during past 3 months which is a commendable feat given the industry wide deterioration in credit quality and steps taken by the government to bring down market interest rates despite the increased credit risk of borrowers. Meanwhile, the Bank’s pre tax Return on Assets improved from 1.52% to 1.63%.
The Bank’s total asset base stood at Rs.168 Bn at the end of the quarter after posting a growth of 10%. Meanwhile, the Bank’s gross loans and advances book recorded a strong growth of 6% during the quarter to reach Rs. 124 Bn which surpassed the previous full year’s growth.
The Customer deposits recorded a commendable growth of 6% or Rs. 7 Bn during the quarter to touch Rs.130 Bn mark.
The Bank’s Retail and Corporate segments collectively contributed towards improving the deposit base including CASA base, whilst an outflow of a large foreign currency time deposit was experienced on the latter part of the quarter.
The Bank’s gross non-performing loan ratio improved from 6.31% to 6.03% whilst net non-performing loan ratio improved from 2.82% to 2.27% within a short period of 3 months due to prudential provisioning policies. Bank’s Director/CEO, Nimal Tillekeratne said, “This is the best ever post tax profits in a first quarter the Bank had in its history of 25 years. We have achieved this feat while building additional provision buffers to deal with possible general deterioration in credit quality due to impact of COVID-19 pandemic,” Tillekeratne added.
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