Banks' profits rise 32pc on a slide in default loans
The banking sector's net profit increased 32 percent year-on-year to Tk 7,918 crore in 2015 on the back of a decline in default loans.
In the last quarter of 2015, banks set aside a lower amount of funds for provisioning as bad loans declined 6.22 percent year-on-year.
However, due to sluggish business, the banks' operating profit rose only 1.96 percent to Tk 21,683 crore, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics.
As a result, the government's income from tax against profit dropped about 32.81 percent to Tk 6,072 crore in 2015 from a year earlier.
“The year 2015 started with political turmoil, which continued for about three months. The banks thought the investment scenario would pick up once the turbulence subsided, but it did not pan out that way,” a BB official said.
Of the 56 banks in the country, Standard Chartered Bangladesh recorded the highest profit last year: their operating profit was Tk 1,529 crore and net profit Tk 789 crore.
However, the British bank's profit fell significantly from a year earlier: in 2014, its operating profit was Tk 1,742 crore and net profit Tk 1,098 crore.
Islami Bank Bangladesh made the operating profit of Tk 1,389 crore, which, however, was a year-on-year decline of 14.31 percent. Its net profit, the second highest among all banks, was Tk 613 crore, up 19.5 percent year-on-year.
In 2015, the private banks' net profit increased 16.61 percent to Tk 6,660 crore against their operating profit of Tk 15,779 crore. However, foreign banks' net profit fell 8.23 percent to Tk 1,551 crore against their operating profit of Tk 2,876 crore.
State banks did not make any profit; rather, they counted a net loss of Tk 125 crore. Of the six state banks, Sonali and BASIC incurred losses in 2015. Sonali's net loss was Tk 862 crore and BASIC's Tk 238 crore.
Two other government-owned specialised banks—Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (Rakub)—made operating losses last year. BKB incurred losses of Tk 159 crore and Rakub Tk 8.59 crore.