The group reported earnings of 2.38 rupees per share for the quarter in interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Interest income was flat at 4.3 billion rupees in the quarter, but interest expenses fell 14 percent to 2.28 billion rupees, allowing net interest expenses to go up 22 percent to 2.0 billion rupees.
"Higher yielding asset portfolios grew moderately to partly off-set declining commercial loan interest rates whilst cost of liabilities reduced further with the re-pricing of shorter tenor deposits," the bank told shareholders.
"Continuous efforts to grow low cost deposits improved the deposit mix which assisted in reducing the cost of liabilities."
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