The Board of Directors of Bank Alfalah Limited in its meeting held on August 25, 2021, approved the Bank’s unaudited condensed interim financial statements for the half-year ended June 30, 2021.
The first half of 2021 has been a period of remarkable growth for the Bank. Profit after taxation increased by 24.2% and stood at Rs. 6.934 billion while Earning Per Share (EPS) was Rs. 3.90 (June 2020: Rs. 3.14).
Net mark-up income was marginally down from last year, the primary reason being a sharp decline of 625 bps in the discount rate. However, an increase in earning assets and deposits supported revenue. Non-markup income increased by 15.9%, with a strong contribution from capital gains and fee income. Fees and commissions also demonstrated a robust increase of 33.5% over last year. This was driven by growth across all business lines, with an exceptional performance from home remittance, cards (issuance and acquiring), trade, and consumer finance businesses.
Non-markup expenses were higher by 11.2% compared to the same period last year, driven largely by higher compensation costs, the full-year impact of new branches opened last year, IT-related costs, Roshan Digital Account communications, and marketing costs, and inflation-related effects.
The Bank has achieved the historic milestone and crossed the Rs. 1 trillion landmark deposit level; deposits reached Rs. 1.026 trillion, growing by 26.9% over June 2020 level; a net absolute increase of Rs. 217.672 billion. This was led by 27.7% growth in current deposits while the CA mix improved to 46.5% as of June 30, 2021.
The Bank’s gross advances were reported at Rs. 638.323 billion, up by 18.7% compared to June 2020 level. As at half year-end, the gross advances to deposits ratio stood at 62.2%. Asset quality remained strong, with the non-performing loans ratio at 3.9% and the coverage ratio at 99.3% as of June 30, 2021.
The Board of Directors has declared an interim cash dividend of Rs. 2.0 (20%) per share.
At the close of the first half, the Bank remains adequately capitalized with CAR at 15.40%.
Commenting on the results, the President & CEO of the bank, Mr. Atif Bajwa said: “A significant ramp-up in the business volume has been achieved through the resilience of our people and the vision of the Board. We express our sincere gratitude to our customers for placing trust in our team, and to the board for lifting boundaries and easing constraints, enabling us to exceed expectations and achieve this goal. Our vision to provide quality service to our customers has been pivotal in achieving these results. The cultural journey we embarked on, internalizing the values of putting our customers first and focusing on our people, has gained momentum and been the driving force behind the achievement.”
