May 26, Colombo: Hatton National Bank (HNB), Sri Lanka's premier private sector commercial bank, continued its robust performance by recording a 115% rise in pre-tax profits to Rs 1,172 million in the first three months of 2008.

Net interest generated from interest bearing assets has increased by 37% while non interest income showed a growth of 16%. The three months have also seen the entire operating expense bill of Rs 2.19 billion being comfortably met by Net interest income from core banking activity.

Net Income including foreign exchange, commission income and investment income grew by 21% during this 3 months period.

HNB has maintained excellent control on expenses with operating costs increasing by a mere 11% despite inflation reaching out towards the 30% levels.