BAFL keen to buy Silkbank’s consumer portfolio

KARACHI: Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) has approached Silkbank Limited, seeking its concurrence to BAFL to apply to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to proceed with the due diligence for the consumer portfolio of Silkbank Limited, a statement said on Monday.

Silkbank had already accorded, in principle, approval to Habib Bank Limited (HBL) to conduct due diligence for the same. Fauji Foundation was also interested in Silkbank, but it backed down, it added.

Silkbank Limited, formerly known as Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank, is a Pakistani commercial bank, which is based in Karachi,. It has a branch network of 123 in 39 cities.

According to the last available financial report, Silkbank posted a net profit of Rs151 million for the period ended September 30, 2020.

With the entire industry experiencing a reduction in ending net receivables (ENR), Silkbank launched multiple initiatives to rejuvenate ENR and total consumer banking ENR currently stand at Rs18.5 billion and have retained the market share of 38 percent in consumer assets and positioned as one of the leading fresh credit card issuers in the market.

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, Silkbank’s loan portfolio stood at Rs5.7 billion with an active consumer base of 23,000 customers, while ready line ending net receivables stood at Rs7.3 billion with a total customer base of 48,447 customers, the statement said.

Silkbank joined the top three banks in terms of credit card repayment volumes via digital channels. Overall, 30 percent of the total payments of the bank’s credit cards were made through digital channels in September 2020.

“The board has required the management to make efforts to revive the mortgage assets business for further growth in the consumer banking business,” the bank’s financial report said.

Bank Alfalah Limited, formerly Habib Credit and Exchange Bank, is a Pakistani retail bank, which is a subsidiary of Emirati company Abu Dhabi Group.