For National Bank, 2025 was a stellar year

For most Pakistani banks, 2025 was the year in which the post-inflation super-cycle began to normalise. For National Bank of Pakistan, it was something rather more flattering: a year in which a lumbering state-owned giant managed to look nimble. The country’s largest public-sector bank reported profit after tax of Rs85.9 billion for calendar year 2025, more than three times the Rs26.9 billion it earned a year earlier. Earnings per share rose to Rs40.38 from Rs12.63, while the dividend was lifted to Rs35 per share from Rs8, a sharp increase for a bank whose shareholder register and governance still carry the unmistakable imprint of the state.

The headline number was impressive. The mechanics behind it were more interesting. Total income rose 32% to Rs311.7 billion, from Rs236.3 billion in 2024. That growth came not because NBP earned more mark-up in absolute terms — mark-up income actually fell by 28% to Rs781.1 billion — but because its funding costs fell even faster. Mark-up expense dropped 42% to Rs532.6 billion, allowing net mark-up income to jump 45% to Rs248.5 billion. In other words, the bank made more money because the decline in what it paid depositors and lenders outpaced the decline in what it earned on its assets.