Billionaires Club

State-run Peoples Bank hopes to transfer about Rs. 9 bn of its hard-core large non-performing loans to the upcoming asset management company.




The bank managed to bring down its old bad loan portfolio by 9 percent to Rs. 23,105 mn in 2002. But nearly 40 percent of this portfolio is proving difficult to recover, as they were lent to private entities with political patronage.





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rnThe bank is now hoping to transfer some of it to the proposed asset management company, so that Peoples Bank can be commercialised with a clean slate.rn

rnEarlier Thursday, Peoples Bank joined the billionaires club by notching just over a billion rupees in profits for its 2002 financial year.rn

rnThe bank is counting on a repeat performance in 2003, but warned that the 10 percent value added tax on banking sector profits, would eat into its profitability.rn

rnldblquote VAT charges are going to cost us Rs. 600 mn this year due to our high cost to income ratio, because we have a massive payroll.

We also estimate that we wi