The Commercial Bank of Ceylon Group reported in a filing with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) that assets reached Rs. 2.999 trillion as at 31 March, a statement released by the bank said.
Gross income for the quarter grew by 9.85% to Rs. 88.1 billion, while interest income improved by 3.14% to Rs 72.6 billion.
Interest expenses reduced by 10.09% to Rs. 38.38 billion as a result of repricing of liabilities amidst the lower rates regime that prevailed, generating a 23.53% growth in net interest income, which amounted to Rs. 34.21 billion for the three months reviewed.
Total operating income grew by 33.4% to Rs. 46.62 billion, but the group’s provision for impairment charges and other losses was increased by 110.44% to Rs. 7.23 billion with additional provisions made on a prudential basis for individually-significant customers, which resulted in an improvement in the bank’s impaired loans (stage 3) ratio.
Consequently, net operating income for the three months, at Rs. 39.39 billion, reflected a growth of 25%, while the Group’s ability to keep operating expenses down to Rs. 12.80 billion, an increase of just 6.2%, resulted in operating profit before taxes on financial services improving by 36.64% to Rs. 26.59 billion.
Taxes on financial services increased by 48.18% to Rs 4.03 billion resulting in Group profit-before-tax (PBT) of Rs. 22.56 billion for the three months, an improvement of 34.77%.
With income tax increasing by 27.92% to Rs. 7.58 billion, the Group reported net profit of Rs. 14.97 billion for the quarter reviewed, reflecting bottom line growth of 38.52%.
Taken separately, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC reported a PBT of Rs. 21.88 billion and PAT of Rs. 14.5 billion for the three months, posting growths of 35.1% and 38.71%, respectively.
Commercial Bank Chairperson Sharhan Muhseen said: The Group has performed exceptionally well in the first quarter of the year, and it’s not just in terms of business volumes. While nearing the milestone of Rs. 3 trillion in assets - a first for a private sector banking group - is a significant achievement, it is equally noteworthy that the bank’s impaired loans (stage 3) ratio has declined and net interest margin has improved in tandem with balance sheet growth.
Commercial Bank Managing Director/CEO Sanath Manatunge said that the Group had achieved substantial growth in its loan book in the first quarter, continuing the trend of 2024; had reversed a net loss of Rs. 1.9 billion on trading incurred in the corresponding quarter of the previous year; nearly tripled net other operating income, and continued to maintain the best CASA ratio despite greater demand for fixed deposits.
“These demonstrate our attention to diverse aspects of our business, all of which have contributed to our robust first quarter results, while building resilience for future growth,” Manatunge said.