Karachi, 5 March 2015: Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited has announced its Annual Results for the year 2014. The Bank has delivered strong operating financial performance with a growth in Revenue of 17 percent from last year to PKR 28.2 Billion. The pre-tax profitability has also enhanced by 16% excluding the one off reversal in executive and general administrative expenses last year. The Bank’s overall Profit (before tax) is at PKR 15.2 billion with Earnings Per Share at PKR 2.51.
These results are a testimony of the disciplined execution of the Bank’s strategy of improving profitability, whilst enhancing customer service, people engagement with a continued focus on controls. The growth in normalised profitability is attributed to a steady revenue line which remains resilient and underpinned by consistent activity across the businesses and Standard Chartered Bank’s network.
Due to strong risk management and prudent credit expansion, loan impairments remained low. The bank continues to maintain high provision coverage of over 90 per cent against non-performing loans. With a tight discipline on administrative costs and excluding one off reversal last year, the overall costs increased by 4% despite inflation and continuous investments.
The deposit momentum continues with a growth of around 3 per cent since start of the year with current and savings accounts now comprising of 92 per cent of the bank’s deposit base. This resulted in the bank having one of the lowest costs of deposits in the industry. The balance sheet remains well capitalised and highly liquid. The surplus liquidity is deployed in Government securities with a balanced mix of short and long term securities. As the economy improves focus will be in building quality customer assets, prudently.
Final cash dividend of 15% (Rs. 1.50/- per share) has been recommended by the Board of Directors for approval at the Ninth Annual General Meeting of the Bank’s shareholders. This is in addition to 7.50% (Re. 0.75/- per share) interim cash dividend announced during the year.
Commenting on the results Shazad Dada, Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited, said, “These results demonstrate our commitment to delivering consistent and sustained performance. We are confident that the actions we are taking will enable us to deliver sustained and profitable growth. There are immense opportunities in the country and we are confident we can translate the strength of our balance sheet and the depth and quality of our client franchise into sustained shareholder value creation.”