Hatton National Bank
Last year proved highly successful for Hatton National Bank (HNB). Its net income grew by almost 70% while RoE rose to more than 16%.
Such achievements were the result of the combination of balance sheet restructuring, cost-effective processes and product rationalisation.
Asset growth was scaled to channel capital towards expansion, and asset allocation and pricing were improved. Stringent steps were adopted to curtail operational costs, which contributed to lowering the cost/income ratio. HNB rationalised its asset holdings and products portfolio by disinvesting unproductive assets and discontinuing or redesigning unproductive deposits, lifting the interest earning assets to 86%.
“Our management team has focused vigorously on balancing business growth with profitability, improving productivity, managing costs and enhancing asset quality,” says managing director R Theagarajah. “This has contributed towards exceptional performance and we are delighted to be acknowledged by The Banker as Bank of the Year 2006.
“Locally, we believe that rural Sri Lanka holds great promise in the future and we are well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity, with our distribution network and product capability supporting the carefully segmented SME and micro-finance sectors. We have no doubt globalisation, consolidation and convergence of financial services are forces that will create stronger companies. Given this scenario, we will continue exploring opportunities locally and overseas, strongly leveraging on our people, systems and technology to deliver the best value for our stakeholders”
