PESHAWAR            -          The Bank of Khyber (BoK) has posted Rs1206 million profit after tax (PAT) for the half year ended June 30, 2020. 

This was informed during 162nd meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank held here in Peshawar. The meeting was chaired by Shakeel Qadir, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Chairman Board of Directors of the Bank. Due to the prevailing pandemic COVID-19, most members attended the meeting via video link; attendees included Atif Rahman, Finance Secretary, Maqsood Ismail, Javed Akhtar, Asad Muhammad, Rashid Ali and Managing Director (A) BoK, Ihsan Ullah. 

In the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Khyber has managed to show good results and posted Rs.1,206 million profit after tax for the half year ended June 30, 2020 as compared to Rs.498 million for the same period of 2019. The deposits stood at Rs.221,126 million whereas with a slight increase from the year end 2019, advances stood at Rs.118,026 million. Investments were at Rs.158,026 million.  The Bank’s total assets rose to Rs.318,195 million. The Board was informed that the Bank was operating with 169 branches and 3 sub-branches wherein 84 branches were functioning as dedicated Islamic Banking Branches.  

Moreover, 76% of BoK branch network comprises of profitable units. This percentage was achieved only due to execution of a comprehensive strategy by the management for conversion of loss making branches in to profit. It is pertinent to mention here that newly opened branches have a gestation period and as of June 30, 2020, loss making branches figure stands at 42 out of 169 branches nationwide. Furthermore, 10 branches are expected to convert into profit by the end of the current year, thus reducing the loss making branches number to 32. 

The BoK has always taken the lead in playing a positive role by fulfilling its corporate social responsibility and has always participated actively in the provincial and federal government’s socio-economic initiatives. As per the objectives of the bank and in line with the Bank’s financial inclusion strategy, the bank is catering to unbanked territories of the country where other financial institutions are hesitant to have their presence.  The Board expressed its satisfaction over results and advised the management to work more diligently to achieve the targets and play its proactive role in the socio- economic uplift of the province and the country as a whole.