June 27, 2003	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 26,1424

KARACHI, June 26: JCR-VIS has reaffirmed the ratings assigned to UBL at A/A-1 (single A/A-one) with a ‘positive outlook.

The bank’s financial performance has improved considerably over the previous year as deposit growth continued and spreads improved, increasing earnings significantly.

Asset quality has also recovered on the back of issuance of PIBs against refunds due from tax authorities and conversion of non-performing advances into the CIRC receivables against which bonds are to be issued as per the CIRC Ordinance 2000.

The UBL has devised robust plans for future business growth and to counter the challenges posed by the low mark-up rate environment. The JCR-VIS will continue to track the bank’s performance against its laid out plans, says a press release.