Commercial Bank’s 6-month pre-tax profit soars to Rs 7.7 billion
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Dinesh Weerakkody
Commercial Bank said this week that ‘exceptional balance sheet indicators, with deposit growth averaging nearly Rs 7 billion per month and gross loan book growth of more than Rs 5 billion per month in the first six months of 2012′ combined with strong gains in non-interest income to generate top first half results for the bank. It reported pre-tax profit of Rs 7.7 billion for the six months under ended 30th June 2012, up 34.06 per cent over the first half of the previous year, while post-tax profit rose by 32 per cent to Rs 5.3 billion. “Clearly, public trust and confidence in the bank continue to grow by leaps and bounds,” Commercial Bank Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody noted in a statement to the media.
“We have achieved solid growth in deposits and a healthy increase in lending in the six months under review, building further on our strong performance of 2011.” Ravi Dias, Managing Director and CEO of Commercial Bank said the bank’s performance reflects its resilience even in challenging conditions. “The solid foundation we have built and our continued commitment to best practice and sound fundamentals has proven its value in no uncertain terms,” he said.
Ravi Dias
The bank’s net income for the six months was up at Rs 16.5 billion, with interest income growing by 32.55 per cent due to the increase in its loan portfolio. Non-interest income (foreign exchange & other income) improved to Rs 6 billion, mainly due to a growth of Rs 2.9 billion in exchange income. The increase in foreign exchange income was largely due to the relatively higher volume of foreign currency operations of the bank and the translation gains recognised consequent to the depreciation of the Sri Lanka Rupee against the US Dollar during the six months period under review. In addition, the other income of the bank, which mainly comprises of commission income and investment income recorded an increase of Rs. 198.6 million or 9.58 per cent.
Net Interest income of the bank grew by 18.38 per cent over the corresponding six months of last year to Rs 10.4 billion. The main contributory factor for this increase in net interest income was the increase in interest income on the loans and advances portfolio of the bank by Rs. 5.866 billion during the 6-month period under review.
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