The Bank of Punjab (BoP) was constituted pursuant to the BoP Act, 1989. It was given the status of scheduled bank by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in 1994. It is principally engaged in commercial banking and related services with its head office in Lahore.

The bank was founded by Tajammal Hussain and it functions as a scheduled commercial bank, with a network of over 587 branches in major business centres throughout the country. It is the seventh largest commercial bank of the country.

It provides a wide range of banking services, including deposits in local currency; client deposit in foreign currency; remittances; and advances to business, trade, industry and agriculture.

The First Punjab Modaraba (FPM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank, was established in 1992 and is being managed by the Punjab Modaraba Services (Pvt) Limited.

In March 2019, the BoP partnered with 1Link — PSO/PSP, payment and switch system in Pakistan — to digitalise the Punjab Employees’ Social Security Institution (PESSI) to allow the employees collect, disperse or share payments across the county, using digital channels.

The BoP partnered with the Punjab Safe Cities Authority in October 2018 to power e-challan collection through automated monitoring system installed across Lahore. The service allows the Punjab government subsidiaries such as the traffic police to collect challan right at the spot with ease.

In January 2015, the bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Karandaaz Pakistan — an investment platform for businesses — to allow the government digitalise their payments.

The Bank of Punjab is scheduled to announce its annual financial results for CY22 on February 17, 2023. It has already announced the nine months of CY22 EPS of Rs2.65 and is set to post a little over Rs3.25, which would be 30 per cent lower than the CY21 EPS of Rs4.71, due to operating costs, as well as the super tax charge.

As per the KASB Research, the expectations of further tax levies, considering the macroeconomic woes, penalties on foreign exchange income, concerns over TSA deposits and risk of rising non-performing loans (NPLs) due to the business closures has kept the stock price traded in a narrow band and touch a low of Rs4.41 last month.

The investors expect the bank to declare cash and stock dividend that has so far helped the long-term shareholders to sustain their positions and reduce their costs of investment in the hope of an eventual comeback. Against an EPS of Rs4.71 in CY21, the bank declared a stock dividend of 12.5 per cent and a similar number would help its shareholders consolidate positions in the near term.

In anticipation, the stock price has inched up in the recent sessions and the analysts expect the BoP to continue moving up the trajectory in the coming week to benefit the investors.