Staff Reporter Islamabad
A meeting of the Board of Directors of The Bank of Punjab (BOP) was held on February 19, 2021. During the meeting, annual audited Financial Statements of the Bank for the year ended December 31, 2020 were approved by the Board.
While reviewing the financial performance of the Bank for the year 2020, the Board expressed its satisfaction over Bank’s overall financial performance and noted with pleasure that despite economic slowdown in the Country due to Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank has been able to post commendable financial results with Rs.12.0 billion profit before tax.
During the year 2020, Balance Sheet grew by 26% and crossed level of Rs. 1.0 Trillion.
The Board appreciated the efforts of BOP team for remarkable performance and also announced and recommended a Cash Dividend of 10.00% for Shareholders for the year 2020 as against 7.50% announced for the year 2019.
During the year 2020, owing to global recession witnessed in all sectors of economy due to Covid-19, the Bank opted for a long term investment strategy resulting in to piling up of substantial capital gains on books of the Bank. Consequently, Non-Markup/ Interest Income increased to Rs. 13.0 billion as against Rs. 3.9 billion showing a substantial increase of 233%.
Whereas, Net Interest Margin remained a little subdued and was recorded at Rs. 23.3 billion. During year 2020, pre-provision profit improved to Rs. 18.9 billion as against Rs. 15.8 billion during last year thereby registering a rise of 20%.
