LAHORE    -    A meeting of the Board of Directors of The Bank of Punjab was held on August 17 to consider and approve the un-audited financial statements for the 1st half of year ended on June 30, 2022. The board reviewed bank’s performance for 1st half of the year 2022 and noted with satisfaction that all financial indicators are well aligned with bank’s strategic goals and current positive momentum shall lead the bank to desired annual business targets. During 1st half of the year, the bank posted before tax profit of Rs. 8.36 billion as against Rs. 7.37 billion earned during 1st half 2021 with a growth of 13%. Bank’s Net Interest Margin (NIM) improved to Rs. 15.86 billion as against Rs. 13.88 billion during 1ST half 2021 registering a growth of 14%. Similarly, Non-Markup/Interest Income (excluding gains on securities) increased to Rs. 4.46 billion as against Rs. 2.77 billion during 1st half 2021 showing an increase of 61%. Profit after tax remained at Rs. 5.42 billion as against Rs. 5.60 billion during 1st half 2021. Earnings per share (EPS) remained at Rs. 1.82 per share as against Rs. 1.88 per share for 1st half 2021. Bank’s total assets as at June 30, 2022 improved to Rs. 1,254.4 billion as against Rs. 1,197.0 billion as of December 31, 2021. The deposits of the bank also improved to Rs. 1,032.0 billion as against Rs. 1,003.0 billion as on December 31, 2021. Investments and Gross Advances were recorded at Rs. 524.2 billion and Rs. 571.2 billion, respectively. Equity improved to Rs. 56.9 billion and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 12.62% against regulatory requirement of 11.50%. Whereas, Leverage Ratio stood at 3.27% as against requirement of 3.00%. The bank has been assigned long term entity rating of “AA+” by M/s PACRA with short term rating being at the highest rank of “A1+”. The bank currently has a network of 688 online branches (including 121 Taqwa Islamic Banking Branches and 16 sub-branches). Further, the Bank has a network of 669 ATMs providing 24/7 banking services to the customers. Besides that, bank is also offering Branchless Banking, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking and Cash Management services to its clients.