Seylan Bank records Rs. 3.4 b PBT during 1H 2019

Seylan Bank has recorded a steady performance with pre-tax profit (PBT) reaching Rs. 3,476 million for the six months ended 30th June 2019 against the Rs. 2,996 million reported in the corresponding period of 2018 despite challenging market conditions and recent unexpected events that impacted the Sri Lanka economy. 

However, the bank’s post-tax profit increased only by 0.89 per cent due to the Debt Repayment Levy (DRL) expense (which was imposed from October 1, 2018) of Rs. 461 million recorded for the period, according to a bank media release. 

Net Interest income increased from Rs. 8,656 million to Rs. 8,886 million, a 2.65 per cent increase for the 6-month period resulting from selective growth in advances and effective pricing strategy. The bank’s gross fee based income remained the same as last year with a slight increase from Rs.2,048 million to Rs. 2,057 million during 1H 2019. 

Other income captions comprising of net gains from trading activities, fair value changes of financial assets, gains on foreign exchange transactions and other operating income increased by 25.11 per cent, a net gain from Rs. 609 million in 2018 to a net gain of Rs. 762 million during 1H 2019.

The bank reported a moderate net loan growth of 5.22 per cent, with net advances growing from Rs. 326,882 million to Rs. 343,936 million during 1H 2019. The NPA ratio has increased by 0.5 per cent during the period. 

Its overall deposit base increased from Rs. 357,560 million in December 2018 to Rs. 374,708 million in 1H 2019. The bank’s CASA ratio (Current and Savings) stood at 27.91 per cent despite the shift witnessed from low cost deposits towards higher yielding fixed deposits during the six months period.

The bank said it is continuing to increase its branch network. During the period of six months, it opened three new branches at Union Place, Paddukka and Godakawela.  As at  June 30, 2019, the bank network comprised 173 Banking Centres, 212 ATMs and 98 Student Saving Centres. Further the bank expanded its Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs) to 40.