LAHORE, March 31: The Bank of Punjab (BoP) has approved a cash dividend of 17.5 per cent for its shareholders for the year ended on December 31, 2002.

The approval was granted at the annual general meeting of the bank held here on Monday. BoP chairman Tariq Hamid presided over the AGM.

The annual accounts of the bank for the FY2002 approved by the AGM show the BoP profits increasing by 2.37 per cent to Rs431 million during the year from Rs421 million the previous year.

The equity of the bank also rose by 38.56 per cent to Rs3.313 billion from the previous year’s Rs2.391 billion.

The bank’s deposits grew substantially by 24.85 per cent to Rs23.767 billion from Rs19.035 billion, while the advances increased to Rs6.621 billion from Rs5.97 billion, showing an increase of 10.9 per cent. Investments rose to Rs8.295 billion from Rs5.97 billion.