People's Bank reports consolidated profit after tax of 4.6 billion

People’s Bank announced the results for its March 31, 2023 quarter reporting total consolidated operating income and pre-tax profit amounting to 24.0 billion rupees and 7.2 billion rupees, respectively.

Similar to 2022, the quarter continued to be characterized by higher interest costs; due to the prevailing high-interest rate environment.

This saw consolidated net interest income dip by 49.7 percent to 15.3 billion rupees relative to Q1-22. This, in part, also reflected the Bank’s efforts to defer the repricing of some of its loans to its more sensitive customer segments.

Consolidated net fees and commission income amounted to 4.5 billion rupees which, excluding one-off items during Q1-22, represented over a 40.0 percent growth on a like-for-like basis.

Reflecting inflation pushed cost pressures, much of which originated in the period after Q1-22, and saw consolidated total operating expenses rise by 10.1 percent to reach 14.4 billion (Q1-22: LKR 13.1 billion).

This compared well with the industry and, in part, also reflected Group efforts for greater cost control at every instance so reasonably possible.

Total consolidated customer deposits grew to 2,513.1 billion rupees, i.e., by 2.6 percent, while close net loans contracted by 4.2 percent to 1,835.1 billion rupees.

The dip in net loans reflected a conscious effort on the part of the Bank and the Group to control lending more so in a yet contracting macro-economic context.

Total consolidated assets stood at 3,072.2 billion rupees at period end (end 2022: LKR 3,133.1 billion).