Pubali Bank Ltd remains cautious about complying with the rules and regulations of the country's banking sector.
"Having a glimpse on the financial statements, you will find that some other banks apparently are above our bank. But time will say which one will prevail eventually," Md. Abdul Halim Chowdhury, managing director and CEO of Pubali Bank told this correspondent recently.
He said Pubali Bank never showed the tendency of preparing 'window dressed' balance sheet and that's why the company's actual performance is reflected in the financial statement.
"In 2017, Pubali Bank's classified loan was 8.0 per cent which seems to be higher than other banks. But how many banks are showing actual amount of classified loans in their financial statements?" Mr. Halim said.
He said due to flawless financial statement, Pubali Bank is trusted to prestigious foreign entities like IFC and Citi Bank N.A.
"Despite numerous challenges in the banking sector, we managed to yield impressive results in 2017 with our all-out collective efforts," Mr. Halim added.
According to the bank's latest annual report, the company's consolidated EPS marginally rose in January-March, 2018 against the same period of the previous year.
The consolidated EPS was Tk. 0.73 for January-March, 2018 as against Tk. 0.71 for January-March, 2017.
The bank earned revenue above Tk 24.41 billion in 2013, above Tk 25.62 billion in 2014, above Tk 25.63 billion in 2015, above Tk 24.40 billion in 2016 and above Tk 27.31 billion in 2017.
The bank disbursed 5.0 per cent stock and 5.0 per cent cash dividend in 2013, 10 per cent cash dividend in 2014, 12 per cent cash dividend in 2015, 5.0 per cent cash and 8.0 per cent stock dividend in 2016 and 5.0 per cent stock and 5.0 per cent cash dividend in 2017.
Officials said the bank has displayed a moderate growth in financials in last five years embracing competent human resources and prudent business plans.
Despite having a steady growth in revenue earnings in last five years, sometimes the bank's net profit fluctuated as it kept huge provisions just to be compliant with the regulations of the central bank.
The officials said the bank's net profit declined as they had taken 100 per cent provision of Tk 5.80 billion at a time in 2017.
"The central bank offered us a chance to complete the provision in three years. But our board was in favour of finishing provisioning at a time to avoid extra hassles," said the managing director of Pubali Bank.
The National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR) has also announced a 'stable outlook' of the bank based on audited financial statements as on December 31, 2017.
The NCR has announced the surveillance entity rating of Pubali Bank as "AA" in the long term and "ST-1" in the short term.
The deposit at Pubali Bank gradually increased during 2013-2017. The amount of deposit was above Tk 177.87 billion in 2013, above Tk 193.09 billion in 2014, above Tk 224.80 billion in 2015, above Tk 247.27 billion in 2016 and above Tk 271.70 billion in 2017.
The officials said before sanctioning any credit facilities a thorough assessment is done by credit division, head office, regional offices, corporate branches and branches.
"The bank's assessment includes borrower risk analysis, financial analysis, industry analysis, borrower's historical performance, security of the proposed credit facility, and environmental risk."
During 2013-2017, Pubali Bank, having 419 branches across the country, has displayed steady efficient ratio.
The efficiency ratio is typically used to analyse how well a company uses its assets and liabilities internally.
The bank's efficiency ratio was 0.21 per cent in 2013, 0.25 per cent in 2014, 0.26 per cent in 2015, 0.30 per cent in 2016 and 0.29 in 2017.
The bank's efficiency in cost management had been reflected in the reduction of cost to income ratio to 49.40 per cent from around 53.0 per cent, according to the annual report.
"Keeping the importance of quality and competence human resource in view, the bank arranges programmes and workshops at regular intervals to come up with innovative and suitable business strategy in the ever changing trend of business."
The bank provides services in the areas of retail banking, corporate banking, personal loans, lease financing, SME financing, trade finance and Islamic banking.
The company's product-basket encompasses real time online branch banking, Islamic banking, deposit products, pension scheme, sanchoy prokolpa, shikkha sanchay prokalpa, digun sanchay prokalpa, monthly profit-based fixed deposit, monthly profit based small deposit, target-based small deposit, short and long term finance, consumer loan, special SMS loans, special agri credit programme, lease financing, trade finance, fixed deposit, SMS banking etc.
Pubali Bank, presently an 'A' category company, was listed on the stock exchanges in 1984.
The company's sponsor-directors hold 30.02 per cent shares, institutes 25.36 per cent shares, foreigners 1.33 per cent shares and general public 43.29 per cent shares as of May 31, 2018.
The company's share price closed at Tk 23.10 each on Thursday with a marginal loss of 0.6 per cent or Tk 2.53 on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
