Bank Net

Nov 14, 2013 (LBO) - Profits at Sri Lanka's Hatton National Bank rose 21 percent to 2.

34 billion rupees from a year earlier, helped by relatively lower loan loss provisions than competitors, interim accounts showed. Gross assets grew 9 percent to 500 billion rupees and net assets grew 8 percent to 55 billion rupees.

The group reported earnings of 5.

89 rupees per share. For the nine months to September the group reported earnings of 14.









47 rupees per share on total profits of 5.7 billion rupees, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

The group said interest income rose 12 percent to 14.0 billion rupees and interest expenses rose at a faster 15 percent to 7.

8 billion rupees, and the bank grew net interest income 8 percent to 6.2 billion rupees.

Fees and commission income rose 28 percent to 1.

06 billion rupees and other operating income was down 49 percent to 1.0 billion rupees.

There were 206 million rupees of specific loan loss provisions while specific provisions were up 292 million rupees from 87 million rupees.

Most other banks have made large general provisions especially for gold backed loans.

Loans grew 11 percent to 335 billion rupees and financial investments available for sale grew