Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Pakistan’s largest bank, enjoys a significant international footprint and is the largest domestic multinational. HBL presently released its condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the 9-month closed September 30, 2022, financial results, with registered profit before tax of Rs 55.6 billion, a rise of 20 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year.
It is also registered that the bank’s international footprint is significant as it offers opportunities to efficiently serve its core customers across its network.
Sources recorded that China remains the lynchpin of HBL’s international strategy and the bank is the largest executor of CPEC related financing in the country. HBL as the leading financial institution of the country is at the forefront of all development measures in Pakistan which includes the growth of priority sectors and targeting the unbanked population.
The Bank remains committed to its objective of financial inclusion for all segments of society.
The experts of the bank also identified that the Profit after tax during the period under review, however, declined by 12 percent to Rs 23.6 billion because of higher, excessive, and retrospectively applied taxation introduced in the Federal Budget which impacted EPS by Rs 6.42/share.
The Bank’s Earnings per Share (EPS) of Rs 15.95. Furthermore, the experts also recorded that HBL is a leading full-service commercial bank. The main areas of operation are branch banking, corporate & investment banking, treasury, SME & rural banking, financial institutions & global trade services, transaction banking and Islamic banking. In the financial results, it is also identified that HBL’s balance sheet increased by 5 percent to Rs 4.5 trillion with total deposits at Rs 3.4 trillion.
The management of the Bank is already playing a leading role in improving financial inclusion through initiatives like the Ehsaas Kafalat Program and facilitating access of women to the financial sector. The Management continued to dominate the Roshan Digital Initiative sustaining its market share of 20 percent of accounts opened and being the top bank for channeling investments in Naya Pakistan Certificates.
Statistics showed that the bank crossed the Rs 2 billion mark in Roshan Apni Car, setting an industry record for financing car loans for non-resident Pakistanis. It is also said that HBL Nisa added over 43,000 new accounts; 25 percent of these were under its Nisa Asaan product, targeted towards the unbanked and underbanked women of Pakistan. The Konnect Islamic app was launched in August 2022 and has onboarded 81,000 accounts. The total number of transactions by the close of 9 months of 2022 stands at 167,000 with a volume exceeding Rs 700 million. The App provides clients an opportunity to open a Shariah-compliant variant of the product by a countrywide network of 45,000 agents. Almost 47 percent of clients on board via the Konnect Islamic app are women which also furthers the Bank’s agenda of inclusivity.
In the financial results experts calculated that the bank grew its total advances by 14 percent to Rs 1.7 trillion during the period under review. HBL continues to invest in its people, digital infrastructure, and business expansion, aligned with the key pillars of the Bank’s strategic vision.
It is also said that HBL Cards remain the clients’ preferred choice; usage increased by 63 percent over the previous year with spend surpassing Rs 200 billion in the 9-month of 2022. Digitalizing the client journey remains a priority with 35 percent of credit cards and 24 percent of personal loans acquired through HBL Mobile. Against the run of play, statistics showed that the Bank performed well on the front of the advance, showing a 14 percent growth in advances over December 2021 to Rs 1.7 trillion. Double-digit growth was witnessed in the Bank’s consumer and agriculture advances portfolios, growing 17 and 14 percent, respectively. The NPLs also increased from Rs 80.8 billion to Rs 91.8 billion, with the infection ratio unchanged at 5.3 percent.
Administrative and operating expenses stayed on the higher side, mostly because of the higher inflationary environment for much of the 9-month period. The management continued to focus on technology upgradation also resulted in higher overall administrative costs. It is said that in November 2019, the bank created history when the HBL Urumqi Branch formally started the RMB business by becoming the first and only bank from Pakistan and one of the three banks from the South Asia and MENA region to offer end-to-end RMB intermediation.
In December 2019, HBL became the first Pakistani bank to be awarded the much coveted branch license to offer financial services to clients in Beijing. As an affirmation of its industry-leading status and delivery, HBL’s Investment Banking received 4 awards during the period from many international publications taking the total to 20 awards to date.
Recently, the Bank was awarded the Best Progress Award by Green Investment Principles Secretariat in its 4th plenary meeting on 14th September 2022.