Provision reversals, non-fund incomes lift Sampath Bank March performance

Sampath Bank reported some robust financial performance in the quarter ended in March 2025 on the back of mainly the non-fund incomes as the net interest income slightly eased due to the decline in the interest rates and the underwhelming performance in loans.

- 

The bank reported a net interest income of Rs.20.46 billion for the January - March quarter, up 5.0 percent from the same period in 2024.

The bank attributed this to the fast descent seen in the average weighted prime lending rate - the rate which acts as a benchmark for most of the lending rates in the bank.Further the yields of the government securities also fell sharply in the first quarter before bottoming out slightly in the recent weeks.

The bank saw their gross loans and advances portfolio contracting by Rs. 4.84 billion in the first three months, predominantly due to the contraction in the foreign currency loans by Rs.10.0 billion.

However, from industry standards the bank's performance in lending has been unsatisfactory as most banks recorded some solid growths in their gross loans in the first three months of the year.