Staff Reporter

KARACHI: Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) announced its financial result for the period ended Sep 2021, where the Bank posted profit after tax of PKR 10.481 bn (EPS PKR 5.9) for 9MCY21 compared to PKR 8.331 bn (EPS PKR 4.69) reported for the same period last year (SPLY), improvement of 25% year on year (YoY).

Net interest income (NII) remained flat on YoY basis in 9MCY21, with solid deposit growth offsetting the impact of reduction in the benchmark rate by the Central Bank to support businesses during the pandemic.

Non-markup income stood at PKR. 11.589 bn, up by 15.6%. This is mainly attributable to the increase in fee income (25% YoY), dividend income (65% YoY) and gain on derivatives. Growth in fee income was on the back of exceptional home remittance and trade flows, combined credit and debit card spending, and strong growth in auto and home lending.

Administrative expense during the nine months increased by 13.7% YoY. Branch network expansion, with the addition of 19 branches during the year, marketing campaigns to support RDA and home remittance, and investment in technology led to an increase in costs. It is worth highlighting BAFL ranks amongst the top 5 banks in the RDA space, with more than 10% market share, also it is among the top three home remittance processing banks in the country under PRI initiative. Resultantly, cost to income ratio of the Bank surge to 58.5% in 9MCY21 from 52.6% in 9MCY20.

During 9MCY21, BAFL booked provisions of PKR 1.419 bn which include subjective downgrades. The Bank’s non-performing loans ratio improved to 3.7% as compared to 4.3% as at December 31, 2020, while the NPL coverage ratio is 101%.

The Bank’s deposits closed at PKR. 1.036 trillion at the end of Q3CY21, with YoY growth of 26.3% compared to Q3’20. The increase was mainly due to the strong growth of 23.3% in current accounts, which clocked in at PKR 464.980 bn at quarter end. CA mix was recorded at 44.9%.