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The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited
Press Release

Date
25-Jun-22

Analyst
Sehar Fatima
sehar.fatima@pacra.com
+92-42-35869504
www.pacra.com

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This press release is being transmitted for the sole purpose of dissemination through print/electronic media. The press release may be used in full or in part without changing the meaning or context thereof with due credit to PACRA

PACRA Maintains Entity Ratings of Soneri Bank Limited

Rating Type Entity
Current
(25-Jun-22 )
Previous
(25-Jun-21 )
Action Maintain Maintain
Long Term AA- AA-
Short Term A1+ A1+
Outlook Stable Stable
Rating Watch - -

The ratings reflect Soneri Bank’s maintained business profile as reflected by system share in terms of deposits (end-Dec21: 1.7%, end-Dec20: 1.8%). SNBL’s customer deposits observed growth of ~13%, where CASA recorded further improvement (CY21: ~70%; CY20: ~69%). Going forward enhanced deposit mobilization will remain vital in maintaining system share. Net income witnessed an increase of 18.9% YoY attributable to lower provisioning and impairment charge. Sustainability in net mark up income & non-markup income and continued enhancement in non-fund based exposure are important for future years. Advance book recorded marginal uptick, whereas, infection ratio declined (CY21: 5.9%; CY20: 6.2%), owing to marginal decline in NPLs. The Investment book has expanded significantly by 31% YOY, dominated by investments in PIBs. Going forward, the strategy is to strengthen the existing good relationships and digital platform by offering various unique solutions to its customers. Pakistan’s economy has gone through several varied phases in last two years due to the COVID19 pandemic. Banking sector continued to flourish with high profitability. Going forward, the macro-economic environment is beset with myriad challenges due to heightened interest rate, tightening of demand, rupee depreciation and higher inflation. This has repercussions for all segments of the economy. The Bank’s Tier-I ratio stands at 12.23% as at end-Dec21. Total CAR stands at 13.8% (CY20: 17%). With dilution recorded in CAR of the bank, prudent capital management remains essential.
The rating is a function of bank's ability to maintain its market position in the banking industry while strengthening its overall risk profile. Bringing efficiency in operational structure is important for long term growth. In the comparative landscape, adding granularity to deposits and advances is critical. Meanwhile, a sustainable increase in system share and consequent profitability would be ratings positive.

About the Entity
SNBL, established in 1991, operates with a network of 367 (CY20: 340) branches across the country. The Bank’s primary sponsors are the Feerasta Family who collectively own majority share in SBL. The Feerasta Family has diverse commercial interests ranging from manufacturing, exporting, banking and trade financing. The overall control of the bank vests with an eight-member board of directors (BoD) comprising five non-executive directors, two independent directors and one executive director (CEO). Three of the Board members are nominees of Feerasta family while one is NIT representative. Mr. Alauddin J. Feerasta is chairman of the board. Independent directors on the Board are Ms. Navin Salim Merchant and Mr. Jamil Hassan Hamdani.

The primary function of PACRA is to evaluate the capacity and willingness of an entity to honor its obligations. Our ratings reflect an independent, professional and impartial assessment of the risks associated with a particular instrument or an entity. PACRA's comprehensive offerings include instrument and entity credit ratings, insurer financial strength ratings, fund ratings, asset manager ratings and real estate gradings. PACRA opinion is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold a security, in as much as it does not comment on the security's market price or suitability for a particular investor.