National Bank is No Longer Pakistan’s Most Profitable Bank

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) did not sustain its top position in the banking sector in terms of profitability and slipped to the second position in Pakistan behind Meezan Bank with a bottom line standing at Rs. 17 billion by the end of the first half of 2022. The banking industry witnessed an interesting variation in the ranking of commercial banks as Meezan Bank made the highest ever profit of Rs. 17.1 billion in the first half of 2022. It is followed by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) with Rs. 17 billion, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) with Rs. 12.1 billion, United Bank Limited (UBL) with Rs. 11.85 billion, and Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) with Rs. 11.1 billion. However, NBP maintained a significant difference in its profitability as compared with the competing banks such as HBL and UBL. This was mainly because of the advantage of tax saving due to the Advance to Deposit ratio maintained by the bank. NBP made the highest profit growth rate which stood at 39 percent year-on-year or Rs. 4.8 billion from the previous calendar year whereas Meezan posted profit growth of 35 percent year-on-year or Rs. 4.5 billion. The earnings per share increased to Rs. 17.8 from Rs. 5.74. The board of directors surprisingly did not announce the dividend money for shareholders. The bank reported an earning of Rs. 53.18 billion along with a non-interest income of Rs. 19.4 billion. The expenses of the bank stood at Rs. 36 billion.