Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank recently released its financials for the first half of its 2010 financial year, where it revealed a 17% increase in post tax profits, to Rs. 2,313.6 million, compared to the same period last year.
This figure was despite the bank noting that there had been a drop of 53.79% in foreign exchange income to Rs. 885.1 million while its interest income also declined by 7.57%, both in comparison to the same period last year. Elaborating on the foreign exchange income drop, the bank revealed that it was "largely due to translation losses consequent to the appreciation of the Sri Lanka Rupee against the US Dollar and a drop in the volume of foreign exchange transactions".
However, bank profits were nevertheless achieved because of net interest income growth equaling 27.74%. This was due to "re-pricing of interest-sensitive assets and liabilities had contributed to an improvement in interest margins to 4.53 per cent", according to the bank's Chief Financial Officer, Nandika Buddhipala.
Additionally, it was revealed that total deposits of the bank rose to Rs. 242.3 billion (36.21%) while total gross loans and advances grew by Rs. 3.7 billion and assets increased to Rs. 337.9 billion (4.85%), with all this being achieved during the six months under review in 2010 and compared to the same period in 2009. |
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