Seylan Bank recorded Profits after Tax of Rs. 1,651 Million for the 6 months ended 30th June 2020 against the Rs. 1,523 Million reported in the corresponding period of 2019 despite of challenging market conditions and COVID 19 impact prevailing in the country.

Net Interest income increased from Rs 8,742 Million to Rs 9,342 Million, a 6.86% increase for the 6 months ended 30th June 2020. The Bank’s net fee based income decreased by 16.76% from Rs 1,953 Million to Rs 1,626 Million during 1H 2020 mainly due to decrease in income related to guarantees, Debit & Credit Cards, Trade Finance & Remittances.

Other income captions comprising of net gains from trading activities, fair value changes of financial Assets, gains on foreign exchange transactions and other operating income increased by 61.71 % a net gain from Rs 762 Million in 2019 to a net gain of Rs1,233 Million during 1H 2020.

Total Expenses recorded a slight increase of 1.65 % from 6,268 Million in the 1H of the previous year to Rs.6,371 Million for the 6 months ended 30th June 2020. This is due to increase in personal expenses as a result of the salary revision partly offset by reduction in overhead expenses. Further bank is also engaged in many cost initiative projects in order to minimize and control the cost over a period of time.

The Bank reported net advances of Rs 378,550 Million during the period under review which is a slight degrowth from December 2019. This is mainly due to decrease in overdraft and factoring which was partly set off by increase in refinance loans, lease rental receivables, import & export related loans etc. The NPA ratio is recorded at 6.81% during the period

Its overall deposit base increased from Rs 400,731 Million in December 2019 to Rs 410,918 Million in 1H 2020. The Bank’s CASA ratio (Current and Savings) stood at 29.47%.

Overall, as a result of the performance during the six months, Bank's Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at Rs 3.19. The Bank recorded a Return (profit before tax) on Average Assets (ROAA) of 0.90 % and Return on Equity (ROE) of 7.20 %. The Bank’s Net Asset Value per share as at 30th June 2020 was Rs 91.33 (Group Rs 94.61).

Seylan Bank remained soundly capitalized, with the key capital adequacy ratios well above the regulatory minimum requirements and recorded 11.06% as total Tier 1 capital ratio and 14.24% as the total capital ratio.

Seylan Bank rating was revised upwards to 'A(lka)' by Fitch Ratings with a 'Stable' outlook