ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state-owned National Savings Bank (NSB) has posted a pre-tax profit of 59 billion rupees for the 2025 financial year, driven by cost-cutting, lean management, and a shift in treasury operations. The bank handed over its 2025 annual report to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Wednesday. The bank’s record performance allowed it to pay a 6 billion rupee dividend to the Treasury, NSB Chairman Harsha Cabral was quoted as saying in a government statement.
“NSB is on a growth trajectory. We have managed to reorganize the setup of NSB as an SOE, bringing in lean management and absolute discipline,” Cabral said. The bank’s net interest income rose 16.9 percent to 84.8 billion rupees in 2025, while profit after tax surged by 69.5 percent to reach 27.3 billion rupees.
Cabral said the bank’s turnaround was underpinned by internal restructuring. The workforce was reduced by 400 employees through natural attrition and disciplined hiring. “Even in the chairman’s office, I reduced the staff from four to two.
We brought in absolute financial discipline across the board,” Cabral said. The bank’s asset quality also improved, with the Stage 3 loan ratio — a measure of non-performing loans — dropping from 5.18 percent in 2024 to 2.53 percent in 2025. On the technology front, NSB has invested in the Temenos T24 core banking system and digitalized several manual processes.
“Our vision is to ensure that the past golden glory of this bank is brought back. As a state-owned bank, we are proud to say we have even overtaken several private banks in performance,” Cabral said. (Colombo/Apr22/2026)