PACRA upgrades BoP ratings

LAHORE: The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA), after the lapse of five years, has upgraded the long-term entity rating of the Bank of Punjab to ‘AA+’, with the short-term highest rating of ‘A1+’, a statement said on Saturday.

As per the PACRA definition, “These ratings denote a very low expectation of credit risk and a very strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, which is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.”

The ratings upgrade of the bank’s credit rating by PACRA is a testimony to the fact that the Bank of Punjab has come a long way during the past years, and the astounding progress of the institution is being recognised and acknowledged by all its stakeholders, including external monitoring agencies, it added.

It took a long period, which witnessed concerted efforts by the management duly backed by the sponsor’s support to reinvigorate the bank.

Further, the aggressive business plan and future roadmap set out by the new management, under the leadership of Zafar Masud, president/CEO, is poised to take the bank to its well-deserved place among the top five financial institutions of the country.

The PACRA CEO in his brief to the board of directors said, “The incumbent management has revamped and strengthened the overall governance and compliance structure, which is essential for oversight and dynamic operations of the bank.”

The Bank of Punjab’s balance-sheet crossed Rs1 trillion benchmark, and its customers’ deposit base grew 21 percent to stand at Rs835 billion during 2020. As a result, the system’s share in terms of deposits inched up, and BoP prominently became eligible for classifying in the “large banks” category.