The country’s five commercial banks made a combined net profit of Nu 2.3B last year, according to the audited financial statements of the banks.

The financial statements also show that all the banks recorded an increase in profit compared with that of 2017. Bhutan Development Bank came out of the red.

Bank of Bhutan’s (BoB) profit for the year constitutes more than half of the combined profit. The net profit of the bank was a little over Nu 1B after deducting a tax of Nu 436M. The bank generated Nu 1.99B from the interest alone.

As of December 31 last year, the bank’s deposit base increase to Nu 46.5B from Nu 42.8B in 2017. Of the total deposit, BoB has lent and invested Nu 44.8B.

Bhutan National Bank’s financial statement revealed a net profit of Nu 606M and Nu 439M tax. BNB earned a total income of Nu 1.8B, of which a major chunk (Nu1.64B) is from interest earning.

The Bank has a lending accumulation of Nu 28 as of December 31 and a deposit of over Nu 30B.

Bhutan Development Bank Limited (BDBL), made a huge progress despite its social mandate. The bank came out of Nu 921M in the red and earned a profit of Nu 300M last year. BDBL has also spent Nu 27M on the community centres, which fetched an income of only Nu 4.5M. The bank, however, earned an income of Nu 679M from interest and provisioned Nu 5.37M tax. BDBL’s total deposit base also increased by about Nu 1B to Nu 22.3B as of December last year. Of the total deposits, the bank lent Nu 18.3B.

Druk PNB’s (DPNB) profit also increased from Nu 184M in 2017 to Nu 233M last year. That is after paying a tax of Nu 109M. DPNB generated Nu 403M from interest. The bank’s deposit based last year was recorded at Nu 12.6B, an increase of about Nu 8M compared with that of 2017. It lent Nu 8.47B.

T-Bank’s profit increased from Nu 112M in 2017 to Nu 140M last year. The bank’s deposit base was recorded at about Nu 7.8B, of which about Nu 6.2B was lent out. Interest income constituted Nu 202M, about 60 percent of the total income.

With increasing services, most of the banks’ income from fee and commissions have also increased.

New FD feature

BoB launched an additional feature on its fixed deposit scheme yesterday that allows clients holding fixed deposit with the bank to partially withdraw the required amount without having to close their entire Fixed Deposit account. 

If a client has an fixed deposit of Nu 500,000 and requires Nu 100,000, he/she can withdraw the required amount without having to close the entire FD account.

Clients can continue their FD with the balance amount, with same account number, tenure and interest rate provided during the time of opening of the FD.

Bank officials said that with this new added feature, clients can now have greater flexibility with their FD accounts, and encourage saving.

Tshering Dorji