KARACHI: Pakistan’s listed banks reported profitability of Rs168 billion in second quarter of this calendar year (2Q2026), flat YoY and down 4 percent QoQ. This takes first half of this year (1H2026) earnings to Rs342 billion, flat YoY. According Topline Securities, on a QoQ basis, the decline was driven by a 7 percent increase in non-interest expense to Rs361 billion and a 2 percent decline in Net Interest Income (NII) to Rs527 billion. This was partly offset by 4 percent QoQ growth in non-interest income to Rs177 billion. NII declined 2 percent both YoY and QoQ (down 1 percent YoY in 1H2026), reflecting the lagged repricing impact of the Apr 2026 rate hike, partly cushioned by banks’ focus on current account deposits and volumetric growth. READ ALSO: 3Q2025: Listed banks post combined profit of Rs170bn Banks that recorded relatively higher NII growth on YoY basis were JS Bank (JSBL), Bank of Punjab (BOP), Bank Alfalah (BAFL), and Askari Bank (AKBL) to the extent of 6-24 percent YoY. On the other hand, Samba Bank (SBL), Soneri Bank (SNBL), National Bank (NBP), and Habib Metropolitan Bank (HMB) posted declines of 16-31 percent YoY. Non-interest income rose 23 percent YoY and 4 perc
