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KARACHI: Four Pakistani banks ranked as the best among the top 10 Asia Pacific lenders in 2024, reported S&P Global Intelligence on Wednesday.
“Pakistani banks dominated a ranking of Asia-Pacific lenders with the best-performing stocks in 2024, as several banks based in the region’s developing economies performed better on the metric of total returns than those in traditional powerhouse nations,” said the S&P report.
Four Pakistan-based lenders, led by United Bank Ltd (UBL), made the top 10, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. UBL, which has a market capitalisation of $1.68 billion, recorded a total stock return of 159.7 per cent to place second in a ranking of the region’s best-performing bank stocks.
The data shows it trailed behind Indonesia’s PT Bank Artha Graha Internasional Tbk, which has a market cap of $270 million and made total returns of 193.2pc in the year.
UBL, NBP, Alfalah, BoP post best stock returns in 2024
Other Pakistani banks in the top ten list were the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), offering a return of 108.4pc, Bank Alfalah Ltd (BAFL) 107.1pc and Bank of Punjab (BoP) 98.4pc.
Allied Bank Ltd (ABL) and Habib Metropolitan Bank Ltd were placed in the list of top 15 banks as 14th and 15th with a return of 94.5pc and 93.2pc, respectively.
Japan was the only country with multiple lenders in the top 10 best performers, while the remaining spots were taken by one bank each from Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
The ranking looked at Asia-Pacific lenders with a market capital of over $100m as of Dec 31. According to the data, small-cap banks dominated the list, with only six of the 15 best-performing lenders exceeding a market cap of $1bn.
The report notes that many Pakistani banks recovered from an earlier share price slump amid the nation’s weakening economy and surging inflation. Pakistan’s economy recovered in the second half of 2024 thanks to a funding programme by the IMF.
Pakistani banks were the blue chips while the PSX set new records each day in the last quarter of 2024.
Japan’s SBI Sumishin Net Bank Ltd ranked third among banks in the region with the highest total returns, while Rakuten Bank Ltd. was seventh, the Market Intelligence data shows.
Indian lenders worst-performers
Meanwhile, relatively slow economic growth in China and India weighed on the share prices of banks in Asia-Pacific’s two major growth engines. No lenders in mainland China or India made the top 15 best-performers list.
Seven Indian lenders were included in the list of worst-performing 15 banks. India’s RBL Bank Ltd, IndusInd Bank Ltd, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd, Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd and ESAF Small Finance Bank were among the 10 biggest losers, with total returns down between 43.1pc and 38pc, data show.
Indian banks are expected to face continued earnings pressure amid headwinds such as subdued credit growth and the country’s economic slowdown. According to the report, the Reserve Bank of India projects a GDP growth rate of 6.6pc for 2024–25 compared to 8.2pc in the preceding year.
Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025
