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BRAC Bank has declared the highest dividends in six years for 2023 after securing a 35 per cent year-on-year growth in profit, supported by higher interest income.
The bank's consolidated profit stood at Tk 8.275 billion for the year ended in December last year, up from Tk 6.14 billion the year before.
Accordingly, the bank's consolidated earnings per share stood at Tk 4.73 for 2023, up from Tk 3.75 a year ago, according to the bank's price sensitive information published on Tuesday.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BRAC Bank Selim R F Hussain said the average customer deposit growth in the market was 11 per cent while the bank achieved a 34 per cent growth in 2023.
The average market loan growth was hovering between 10 and 11 per cent in the calendar year but BRAC Bank saw a 34 per cent increase in loans.
Moreover, the lender saw the number of customers increase by 360,000 in 2023.
People have faith in the services provided by BRAC Bank because of multiple factors, including overall governance, the banking practices and regulatory compliance, said the CEO.
He also said the bank kept investing largely on digital transformation of its services to further empower their clients, which started giving dividends to the bank. Nearly 90 per cent of their customers are handled digitally, which is "rare in the industry".
Based on the profit growth, the board of directors recommended 10 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock dividends for 2023, highest since 2017 when the bank paid 25 per cent stock dividends.
A reduction in non-performing loans and higher income from the bank's subsidiary bkash supported the boost to the earnings.
The market-based reference rate or SMART (six-month moving average rate of Treasury bills) introduced at the end of June last year drove up interest income of the lender.
Investment income from government securities also went up.
BRAC Bank diverted funds into government securities, considering risk-free returns, to avoid the volatile stock market.
The consolidated net operating cash flow per share was Tk 40.76 for 2023, increased from Tk 23.39 for 2022.
BRAC Bank's stock price advanced 0.25 per cent to Tk 39.6 per share on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The stock rose 10.6 per cent since the floor price removal on January 18.