KARACHI – Bank Alfalah Limited has posted a profit before provision and taxation (PBT) of Rs 5.604 billion. This was announced at the 19th Annual General Meeting of the bank. Chaired by Abdullah Khalil Al Mutawa in the absence of Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, the meeting was attended among others by the board members including Khalid Mana Saeed Al Otaiba, Ikram Ul Majeed Sehgal, Nadeem Iqbal Sheikh and CEO Sirajuddin Aziz while Hamid Ashraf and Zahid Ali H. Jamall repersented the executive staff.
The deposit base grew by 9.01 percent to Rs 354.015 billion as compared to the previous year. The gross advances figure stood at Rs 218.432 billion. The foreign trade figures stood at Rs 254.705 billion for imports and Rs 132.277 billion for exports as of December 31st last year. Bank Alfalah opened 65 new branches, including 14 sub-branches, in 2010 taking the total network to 386 branches including 18 sub-branches.
Besides Pakistan, bank has branches in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, WBU in Bahrain and a Representative Office in UAE. Bank’s ATM network includes 315 advanced ATMs across the network. The Islamic Banking business recorded an increase of 38.26 percent per cent in profit before tax to Rs 969.953 million from Rs 701.548 million in 2009.
Currently, there are 17 players in the market including dedicated Islamic Banks and Islamic Banking windows of Commercial Banks. The Islamic Banking operation of Bank Alfalah Ltd is now the second largest in Pakistan. Bank Alfalah has also launched Bancassurance Services at selected branches in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Abbottabad and Sargodha.
