KARACHI, Nov 1: The First Women Bank earned a pre-tax profit of Rs256 million in the year 2006 against Rs220 million last year.

The bank announced the much delayed financial results on Thursday hoping to get a better result this year. The FWB said the advances of the bank grew by Rs610 million to Rs3.115 billion.

The bank said advances to deposit ratio rose to 44 per cent while the shareholders equity rose from Rs110 million to Rs935 million.

The Net Asset Value per share increased to Rs32.95. The bank said it achieved a recovery rate of 98.5 per cent.

Addressing the 18th annual conference of the FWBL in Karachi, the Bank’s President, Ms. Zarine Aziz, expressed her satisfaction over the performance of the bank, adds APP.

She stated that the bank endeavours to provide quality service. She said recently the online connectivity and ATM has further enhanced the performance and coverage of the bank.

Later, Ms. Zarine awarded the management and staff for their outstanding performance in 2006.