It was an impressive 32.7% Year-on-Year growth compared to Rs. 9.1billion recorded in the previous year.
Similarly, Profit Before Tax too grew by 31.8% YoY to reach Rs. 16.6 billion for the period under review, as against Rs. 12.6 billion reported for the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Group, which comprises of the Bank and four fully owned subsidiary companies, also posted a growth in PAT and PBT of 33.5% and 32.5% respectively for the year ended 31st of December 2017.
The Net Interest Income, the main source of income of the bank which accounts for more than 70% of the total operating income, recorded a growth of Rs. 5.6 billion to touch Rs. 28.4 billion, as opposed to Rs. 22.8 billion reported in the previous year.
Net fee and commission income, consisting mainly of credit, trade, card and electronic channel related fees, grew by 23.9% YoY, from Rs. 6.6 billion recorded in 2016 to Rs. 8.2 billion in 2017, largely as a result of a strong uptick in advances, expansion of credit card operations and the growing demand for innovative value additions, especially electronic channel offerings.
Net gains from financial investments also grew by 12.1%, bolstered by an increase in dividend income earned from financial assets.
Total operating expenses of the bank for 2017 increased by 9.4% compared to the previous year.
This was mainly the result of higher personnel expenses resulting from salary increments, increase in other expenses due to higher VAT rate, inflation along with higher IT expenses owing to system upgrades etc.
Sampath Bank’s total asset base crossed the Rs. 750 billion landmark in 2017, growing from Rs. 658.5 billion reported on 31st of December 2016 to Rs. 795.1 billion by the end of the review period.