Bank Alfalah posts 36% growth in annual profit

KARACHI: The profit-after-tax of Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) has increased 35.8 per cent to Rs14.217 billion, translating into the earnings per share of Rs8 (EPS) for the year ended December 31, 2021, a bourse filing said on Thursday.

The BAFL profit was recorded at Rs10.475 billion, translating into the EPS of 5.89 during the previous year.

The board of directors have declared a final cash dividend of Rs2/share. This is in addition to an interim cash dividend of Rs2 declared in June 2021.

The bank revenues increased 9 per cent on a year-on-year basis on the back of solid deposit growth, which offsets compression in spreads due to interest rate cuts last year.

The increase in the market share and robust growth in the consumer portfolio, higher credit and debit card spending, phenomenal increase in home remittances and trade flows helped the bank achieve better results.

The BAFL achieved a deposit growth of 29.2 per cent in 2021, as its deposits amounted to Rs1.139 trillion at the end of the year.

The increase is mainly attributed to the strong growth of 26.9 per cent in current accounts, which stood at Rs500.753 billion as of December 31, 2021, while the current accounts mix was recorded at 44 per cent.

The bank’s advances book grew 16.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis partly due to the government-backed schemes for economic relief.

At the period end, the bank’s gross advances to deposits ratio stood at 61.4 per cent, while its non-performing loans ratio improved to 3.5 per cent, compared with 4.3 per cent at the end of the last year, while the non-performing loans remain fully covered through provisions.

Bank Alfalah disbursed Rs3.369 billion loans under the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar Scheme, the highest in the industry, and received the Best Bank Award for home loans under the same scheme.

BAFL was named one of the top three banks in terms of Naya Pakistan Certificate investment, and was honoured by the prime minister for reaching the milestone of $2 billion in Roshan Digital Account (RDA) deposits.

As of December 31, 2021, the bank remains adequately capitalised with the capital adequacy ratio at 14.43 per cent.

Bank Alfalah has persistently demonstrated its commitment to the construction and export segments of Pakistan in line with the government’s vision to improve the business environment for these sectors.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched numerous schemes to support these efforts for economic development and prosperity, in collaboration with the local banks and development finance institutions (DFIs), of which Bank Alfalah’s contributions have been acknowledged on multiple fora.