National Bank continued to be in the red in 2023, weighed down by default loans and higher interest payments against borrowed funds and deposits.
However, the amount of losses incurred last year was 54 per cent less to Tk 14.97 billion, compared to the previous year.
Accordingly, the earnings per share, still negative though, improved to Tk (4.65) in 2023 from Tk (10.13) the year before.
"The bank could not book interest on loans and advances due to non-recovery from defaulters," said the bank in a filing on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Sunday.
Hence, interest on such loans and advances could not be included in the income segment of the balance sheet.
National Bank's classified loans amounted to Tk 123.68 billion by the end of 2023, accounting for 28.82 per cent of the total loans and advances disbursed by the bank, according to the data of the Bangladesh Bank.
The bank is yet to publish detailed financial statements for 2023.
In the stock exchange filing, the bank said the new board and the new management were putting in highest efforts to improve the financial health of the bank by streamlining recovery drives and through mobilisation of low-cost deposits.
Meanwhile, the stock of National Bank rose 3.64 per cent to Tk 5.70 per share on Sunday on the Dhaka bourse, having traded at far below the face value of Tk 10 for more than two years.
The bank's nine-month interest income fell 26 per cent year-on-year to Tk 12.91 billion through September last year while interest paid on deposits and borrowings exceeded Tk 22 billion during the time. The wide gap led to the net interest income being Tk 9.12 billion in the negative.
The bank's consolidated net operating cash flow per share improved in 2023, but it still remained Tk 1.84 in the negative.
The net asset value per share fell sharply to Tk 7.30 in 2023 from Tk 13 the year before due to the elevated level of default loans and liquidity crunch.
The bank has not provided any information regarding dividends for 2023, annual general meeting and record date in violation of the DSE (listing) regulations 2015.
Company secretary Md Kaiser Rashid could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.
The Bangladesh Bank in December last year reconstituted the board of National Bank to discipline the lender in the interest of depositors on receiving a recommendation from the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
Syed Ferhat Anwar, a former professor of the Institute of Business Administration at the University of Dhaka, has been appointed as chairman of the bank.
The new board and management took strict actions against bad loans last year, said Krishna Kamal Ghose, chief financial officer (CFO) of National Bank.
"We have also tried to control our cost this year, leading to a reduction in losses."
The management gave emphasis on investment and other income so income in these two segments increased in 2023, compared to the year before, the CFO added.
The bank failed to pay any dividend to its shareholders for three consecutive years - 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Because of its huge amount of classified loans, the central bank ordered National Bank in January last year not to disburse more than Tk 100 million in loans to a single borrower in order to stop anonymous loans.
The bank is not allowed to renew the existing loans too without recovering a certain cash portion of the credits.
babulfexpress@gmail.com