Amãna Bank posts Rs. 23 m PAT in 1Q

Having been crowned the Best ‘Up-and-Comer’ Islamic Bank of the World and recorded its first profitable quarter in Q4 2014, Amãna Bank continued its successful momentum by posting a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 23 million for the first quarter of 2015. The bank, in the corresponding period of 2014 registered a Loss After Tax of Rs. 49.3 million and therefore has effectively improved its bottom-line by a total of Rs. 72.3 million.

According to the financial statements released to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the bank’s Net Operating Income grew by an impressive 29.9% to Rs. 449 million, which is mainly attributable to the growth in net financing income and gains from trading activities. The aforementioned PAT of Rs. 23.0 million is after deducting Rs. 31.2 million as VAT and NBT on financial services from the bank’s noteworthy operating profit of Rs. 54.2 million. 

Commenting on the bank’s Q1 performance, Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said, “I am delighted to note the momentum of the bank’s profitability for the second successive quarter and confident that we are on course with the bank’s five year strategic plan.”

The bank has remained focused in building its advances portfolio whilst maintaining its quality through effective credit risk management policies and procedures which has resulted in the bank recording a Gross Non Performing Advances Ratio of 1.52%, considered to be one of the lowest in the banking industry. Supported by an impressive CASA ratio of 53%, the bank surpassed Rs. 30 billion mark in customer deposits during the first quarter.

Amãna Bank is the first Licensed Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka to operate in complete harmony with the non-interest based Islamic banking model and is listed on the Diri Savi Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Powered by the stability and the support of its strategic shareholders including, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, AB Bank in Bangladesh and The Islamic Development Bank based in Saudi Arabia, Amãna Bank is making strong inroads within the Sri Lankan banking industry and is focused on capitalising the growing market potential for its unique banking model across the country. Fitch Ratings recently assigned the Bank a National Long Term Rating of BB (lka) with a Stable Outlook.