KARACHI: Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited posted profit before tax of Rs 18.4 billion for third quarter of 2021, with strong growth in net advances of 26 percent and 7 % increase in deposits.
The cost discipline continues with an increase of only 1% and effective risk management resulting in net recoveries of Rs790 million, said release on Thursday.
The bank delivered a resilient financial performance in third quarter of 2021 compared to Rs 19.9billion in the corresponding period of last year. It achieved revenue in excess of Rs 26 billion, despite challenging external environment and margin compression.
While year-on-year revenue was down, the quarter-on-quarter momentum has picked up with a growth of 10% in Q3 of 2021 compared to same period last year.
Administrative costs continue to be well managed through operational efficiencies and disciplined spending resulting in year-on-year increase of 1% compared to same period last year.
Moreover, strong recoveries of bad debts, coupled with lower impairments because of prudent risk approach led to a net release of Rs 0.8 billion in Sept. 2021 compared to a charge of Rs 3.2 billion in the comparative period.
All businesses have positive momentum with strong growth in underlying drivers. This is evident from pickup in net advances, which have grown by 26% since the start of this year. This was a result of targeted strategy to build profitable, high quality and sustainable portfolios.
With a diversified product base, the bank is well positioned to cater for the needs of its clients. On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits grew by Rs 40 billion, whereas current and saving accounts grew by Rs 41 billion (up 8%) since the start of this year and comprise 93% of the deposit base.
The incremental liquidity generated is currently deployed in government securities and interbank lending thereby resulting in an increase of 7 per cent in total assets, which crossed Rs 750 billion milestone to close at Rs 775 billion.
Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) continues to make good progress against well-defined strategic priorities. The global network differentiates the Bank for its clients, bringing forth innovative solutions, product specialization and structured offshore offerings. The network advantage has also enabled the Bank to generate over $278M in funding of Roshan Digital Account in addition to carrying out several high-profile transactions for Clients and Government of Pakistan. Facilitating clients through personalised wealth advice based on superior insight has led to an increase in wealth business by 22 percent.
Bank strives to maximise the contribution to SBP initiatives on promoting housing finance. Till date, financing of over Rs10 Billion has been approved under Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar Scheme with Bank also amongst the first few to cross landmark of Rs1 billion disbursement under the said scheme. Total disbursements are to the tune of Rs 1.7 billion (as of Sept. 30, 2021), one of the highest in the industry.