NBL. has a consistent dividend policy. In line with that Stock Dividend of 52 percent was declared for the year 2008 which strengthened paid-up capital base and it stood at Tk.2,846.53 million 2009 against authorized capital of 7,450.00 million. The statutory reserve enhanced by 35.95 percent to Tk.2,418.37 million in 2009 after transferring 20 percent on pre-tax profit while it was Tk.1,778.87 million in 2008. At the end of 2009 shareholders' equity increased by 45.55 percent to Tk.8,916.76 million from Tk.6,126.27 million of 2008.
Capital Management of the Bank is to maintain an adequate capital base to support the projected business and regulatory requirement. NBL always maintain a prudent balance between Tier- 1 and Tier-2 capital. The Bank has maintained overall capital adequacy at 13.56 percent in 2009 of which 10.89 percent and 2.67 percent as Tier-1 and Tier-2 capital respectively against Bangladesh Bank's requirement of 10 percent.
The deposit base of the bank registered a growth of 27.66 percent in the reporting year over the last year and stood at Tk.76,838.64 million. Expansion of branch network, competitive interest rate and deposit products contributed to the growth. The customers of the bank were individuals, corporations, financial institutions, government and autonomous bodies etc.
The Bank opened a total number of 24,385 LCs amounting USD 1,117.61 million in import trade in 2009. The main commodities were scrap vessels,rice, wheat, edible oil, capital machinery, petroleum products, fabrics & accessories and other consumer items.
The Bank has been nursing the export finance with special emphasis since its inception. In 2009 it handled 18,761 export 2009 it handled 18,761 export documents valuing USD 559.78 million with a growth of 5.41 percent over the last year. Export finances were made mainly to readymade garments, knitwear, frozen food and fish, tanned leather, handicraft, tea etc.
The daily average investment of the treasury in local currency was Tk 10,629.10 million in the from of Call Lending, Term Lending, Reverse Repo, Debentures and Govt. Securities. The yield was 1.17 percent higher than previous year. Like previous year, inflow of foreign currency of the current year was higher than the previous year. Treasury was actively participated in interbank market, both in local and foreign currency.
National Bank Limited generated profit before provision of Tk.3,397.70 million in 2009 which was Tk.3,123.82 million in 2008 registering a growth of 8.77 percent. Net Profit after tax grew by 36.45 percent to Tk.2,070.47 million in 2009 after making provision for loan loss and income tax for Tk.200.00 million and Tk.1,150.00 million respectively.
Interest income increased by 17.88 percent to Tk.6,821.39 million in 2009 from Tk.5,786.71 million in 2008 due to growth of advances. It accounted 61.98 percent of the total operating income.The income from investment increased sharply by 89.51 per cent to Tk.1,779.32 million in 2009 from Tk.938.92 million in 2008. Commission and exchange earning decreased by 3.20 percent to Tk.1,463.70 million in 2009 from Tk.1,512.13 million of 2008.
Overall increase of deposits pushed up the interest expenses by 24.91 percent from Tk.3,594.84 million in 2008 to Tk.4,490.34 million in 2009. Salary & allowances increased by 26.89 percent, Rent & taxes, insurance premium, utility charges etc increased by 23.36 percent. Total operating expenses was Tk.3,118.11 million in 2009 in comparison to Tk. 2,174.40 million in 2008.
In spite of taking all out efforts to reduce the non-performing assets of the bank giving top most priority, the classified loans raised by 42.17 percent to Tk.3,880.31 millions as on 31 December, 2009 from Tk. 2,729.33 millions of previous year. Global recession and internal political uncertainty of 2007 & 2008 in the country many industries and business enterprises could not run properly & had to incur huge loss and turned non-performing which is a major cause of increase
in classified loan.
Besides all other activities recovery of classified loans & advance gets top most priority. Though appropriate action plans taken and relentless efforts exerted to reduce the non-performing assets, during the year under review, the bank recovered Tk.345.40 million and Tk.97.37 million against classified loans & advances and written-off respectively. Even then non-performing assets increased a little bit to 5.96 percent of total loans & advances, which is within a tolerable level.
Moreover, during 2009, bank obtained court verdict of 9 suits valuing the property of Tk.36.23 million under section 33(7) & 33(5) of the Artha Rin Adalat Ain-2003. Necessary formalities are being done to sell the properties to realize the debts. Bank filed 33 new suits in the year 2009 to recover Tk.862.47 million and is relentlessly pursuing the suits for early disposal.
As a contributor of national economy, NBL is relentlessly working to ease the flow of inward foreign remittance. The bank introduced different products and technology including SWIFT,
(Tk. 620.69 crore ) higher than that of 2006 acheving a growth rate of 29.07 percent. Intorduction of products like Home Delivery Scheme , Electronic Fund Transfer(EFT) and different instant payment system and mordern technologies like SWIFT and online services have strengthed the position of the bank. devices for more speedy payments. Further, NBL entered into a deal with ASA, a leading
NGO having 3,000 outlets and also with Social Islamic Bank to expand bank's domestic network.
With the passage of time, NBL earned the confidence and trust of the wage earners and successfully handling a sizeable volume of remittances, which is depicting a gradual increasing trend. In 2009, foreign remittance brought through NBL was USD 645.97 million showing an increase of USD 63.50 million over the previous year, which registered an