Brac Bank’s net profit drops

Despite registering a rosy picture in different areas, including deposit and revenue, Brac Bank experienced four percent year-on-year profit decline in the third quarter of the current year.

The loss from capital market investment accounted for the fall in the profit, the bank claimed.

The lender however continued to retain its position as the largest market capitalisation in the banking sector.

It incurred a loss of Tk45 crore in three months from July to September from capital market investment compared to its gains of Tk18 crore in the same period last year, according to a press release the bank sent on Monday.

However, the bank performed well in deposit growth and business expansion.

When banking sector has been suffering from tight liquidity, Brac saw 20 percent growth in deposit, taking the total to Tk24,066 crore in September.

The loan portfolio of the bank grew by 13 percent during the period when average banking sector growth was above 10 percent.

The high loan growth helped the bank earn healthy revenue. The bank saw 12 percent revenue growth in the third quarter, according to bank's statement.

The size of total loan book stood at Tk25,075 crore in September.

The bank managed to cut its default loan rate slightly to 3.4 percent in September from 3.7 percent during the same period last year.

The earnings per share dropped slightly to Tk3.05 in September from Tk3.18 during the same period a year ago.

The bank saw customer growth by two percent year-on-year to 1.23 million in September.

Brac Bank Managing Director Selim RF Hussain said the bank prioritised improving liquidity and reducing money market dependency, and that have been achieved.

He further said the digital transformation strategy is gaining momentum with the launch of a new innovation studio and initiation of multiple projects.

"bKash continues to aggressively grow its customer base and the digital ecosystem and has regained four million new customers last year. The bank is on a strong footing and is looking to build the platform for exponential business growth in the medium term," said the managing director.