Banks report nearly 45pc profit growth in Q1

Kathmandu, November 21

Commercial banks have generated attractive profit in the first quarter of this fiscal as average profit of class ‘A’ financial institutions surged by a whopping 44.72 per cent against  corresponding period of last fiscal.

As per the unaudited financial statements disclosed by the commercial banks, collective profit of the banks stands at Rs 9.53 billion in the review period as compared to net profit of Rs 6.58 billion in the first three months of fiscal 2015-16.

Profit growth of the commercial banks in first quarter (Q1) of this fiscal, however, slightly decreased as compared with corresponding period of fiscal 2015-16, when it stood at 46.65 per cent.

Nepal Bank stood at the top position in terms of profit earning in the review period with its net profit at Rs 1.17 billion in the first three months of this fiscal. The bank has made high profit among the commercial bank as the bank sold its property and non-operating profit was sizable than the operating profit worth Rs 470 million, according to Devendra Pratap Shah, CEO of Nepal Bank.

Similarly, Nabil Bank stood second in terms of profit generation, with total profit worth Rs 798.37 million. Nepal Investment Bank came in the third position with total profit of Rs 740.8 million followed by Everest Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank with total profit worth Rs 513.42 million and Rs 500.83 million, respectively.

In terms of profit growth, Kumari Bank was the forerunner as its profit rose by a startling 182.13 per cent to Rs 137.43 million, followed by Nepal Bank with 162.41 per cent and NMB Bank with 147.6 per cent.

Banks that have completed merger and acquisition with different financial institutions have also earned sound profit growth compared to previous fiscal. In terms of profit growth, NMB Bank topped the list under merged and acquired category as its profit rose by an impressive 147.6 per cent to Rs 353.69 million. NMB Bank had merged with four financial institutions — Clean Energy Development Bank, Bhrikuti Development Bank, Pathibhara Development Bank and Prudential Finance — and started joint operation from the second quarter of last fiscal year.

More importantly, none of the commercial banks landed in the red during the review period. But profit of some commercial banks went down in the review period as compared to same period of last fiscal year. Profit growth of Civil Bank, Century Bank and Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank slumped in the review period as compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.