Corporate results: Standard Chartered’s earnings rise 15.6%

Total deposits grow 5% in the first 3 months of 2016

KARACHI: Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan posted earnings of Rs3.2 billion for Jan-Mar, up 15.6% from the same quarter of 2015.

In a stock notice on Wednesday, Standard Chartered reported flattish interest income of Rs5.4 billion in the first quarter of 2016.

However, net interest income (NII) increased 15.6% year-on-year to Rs5.7 billion because of reversals of provisions (Rs235.8 million) in Jan-Mar as opposed to a heavy provisioning of Rs511.5 million in the same period of 2015.

On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits grew 5% in the first three months of 2016. “The continuous increase in low-cost deposits has significantly supported the bank’s performance, with current and savings accounts comprising 93% of the deposits base,” a statement of Standard Chartered said, adding the bank enjoys one of the lowest costs of deposits in the entire banking industry.

As for the advances, Standard Chartered maintained “positive momentum” by growing loans 10% over the end of the preceding quarter. The bank said it expects advances growth to pick up, as the economic activity improves further.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2016.

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