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Profits after tax reached Rs. 1,536 million, a 3.9% decrease compared to the Rs. 1,598 million reported in the corresponding nine-month period in 2012. Profit after tax for the third quarter 2013 was reported at Rs. 534 m as compared with Rs. 638 m for the same period last year. The interim Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with LKAS/SLFRS.
Despite subdued credit growth and industry wide pressure on interest margins, net interest income increased from Rs. 
6,800 million to Rs. 6,847 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2013. Fee and commission income increased 24% from Rs. 1,243 million to Rs 1,542 million showing a consolidation of the solid growth in core banking activities achieved by Seylan Bank over the past few years.
Cost containment
During the nine months under review the bank also focused considerably on cost containment. As a result of many effective cost containment initiatives, total personnel and overhead cost was contained to a mere 5.6% increase during the nine months ended 30 September 2013.
Benefitting from the successful implementation of its core banking system upgrade in February 2013, overheads including personnel costs were limited to a 5.6% increase in spite of a general salary revision granted to staff at the beginning of the year.
Even more significantly, despite an industry-wide trend of deteriorating asset quality, Seylan was able to improve its asset quality through effective recovery and rehabilitating efforts which has resulted in a significant reduction in its gross NPA (net of IIS) from 12.99% in December 2012 to 11.31% as at end September 2013.
Strategic plan
In September 2013, Fitch affirmed the Bank’s rating at ‘A-lka’ with a Stable outlook. The bank has also embarked on an exercise to review, update and extend its Strategic Plan to 2016. The areas of focus include advance/deposit growth, branch expansion, customer service improvement, staff development, NPA reduction, cost control, new product development, IT infrastructure, shareholder value, etc.
During 2013, the bank opened three new branches, fully refurbished 11 branches and relocated a further five branches to more customer friendly locations. As at 30 September 2013, the bank network comprised of 150 branches, 157 ATMs and 79 student savings centres.
Subsequent to the successful Rs. 2 billion debenture issue (February 2013) that was over-subscribed on the opening day, the bank’s total capital adequacy ratio stands at 15.12% at the end of Q -3 2013, one of the highest amongst the local banking industry.
As a result of this sustained 3Q 2013 performance, earnings per share stood at Rs. 4.48, while return (profit before tax) on assets and return on equity stood at to 1.53% and 10.46% respectively.
