Silver Point

Thomas J. Monaco

Silver Point is a boutique research firm that focuses on the broader financial services sector, with a particular focus on troubled institutions globally. 

Asia Ex Japan

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

*D-SIB Standards Released: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Bank and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on April 2, 2021 released finalized new capital standards for the country’s domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), and indicated that the need for banking  crisis liquidation plans; and* Aggressive Capital Raises Expected: In our view, the forthcoming regulations are likely to focus on: additional paid-in capital; leverage ratios; risk concentrations; corporate governance; disclosure levels; and mechanism to prevent systemic risk; and internal controls. The idea is to finally strengthen mainland Chinese bank balance sheets and improve their loss absorption capacity. Problem for equity raises is that P/BV must be over 1.0x for the raise and many of the potential D-SIBs are trading below book value.

*D-SIB Standards Released: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Bank and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on April 2, 2021 released finalized new capital standards for the country’s domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), and indicated that the need for banking  crisis liquidation plans; and* Aggressive Capital Raises Expected: In our view, the forthcoming regulations are likely to focus on: additional paid-in capital; leverage ratios; risk concentrations; corporate governance; disclosure levels; and mechanism to prevent systemic risk; and internal controls. The idea is to finally strengthen mainland Chinese bank balance sheets and improve their loss absorption capacity. Problem for equity raises is that P/BV must be over 1.0x for the raise and many of the potential D-SIBs are trading below book value. 

China Banks – Big Capital Raises Coming

Equity Bottom-Up

Industrial Bank Co Ltd A / Equity Bottom-Up

*Weak 4Q20 Numbers: Industrial Bank (601166.CH) [Industrial] reported fairly disappointing 4Q20 earnings result of CNY 14.8 bn – declining CNY 4.5 bn (23.5%) on a linked quarter basis. From an operating perspective, Industrial struggled this quarter with negative operating jaws, as revenues declined CNY 925 mn (1.8%) whilst expenses increased CNY 3.4 bn (27.2%); and*COVID Credit Hangover Persists: In our view, the stated credit figures far from tell the entire story. Net new NPLs amounted to CNY 20.6 bn or increasing an alarming 145.4% on an annualized basis. When one considers the continued high level break-down in credit quality, reserves would appear to be incredibly light by CNY 36 bn, in our view, which amounts to about two quarters of pre-tax results at Industrial.

*Weak 4Q20 Numbers: Industrial Bank (601166.CH) [Industrial] reported fairly disappointing 4Q20 earnings result of CNY 14.8 bn – declining CNY 4.5 bn (23.5%) on a linked quarter basis. From an operating perspective, Industrial struggled this quarter with negative operating jaws, as revenues declined CNY 925 mn (1.8%) whilst expenses increased CNY 3.4 bn (27.2%); and*COVID Credit Hangover Persists: In our view, the stated credit figures far from tell the entire story. Net new NPLs amounted to CNY 20.6 bn or increasing an alarming 145.4% on an annualized basis. When one considers the continued high level break-down in credit quality, reserves would appear to be incredibly light by CNY 36 bn, in our view, which amounts to about two quarters of pre-tax results at Industrial.    

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Quantitative Analysis

A negative feedback loop of poor sentiment, managers selling down positions leading to big underperformance has caused allocations in China banks to more than halve over the past 2-years.  An exodus out of the four major state banks has occurred across GEM, Asia Ex-Japan and China managers as the narrative has focused on growth over value.  From an ownership perspective, there are signs that this is bottoming out.  Underweights are being closed, funds are moving back in and weights are moving higher.  Whilst inflows remain skewed towards the higher growth and premium valuation stocks of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ping-an-bank-co-ltd-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:681:1" rel="noopener">Ping An Bank Co Ltd A (000001 CH)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-merchants-bank-co-ltd-3388a037-4214-4997-b45d-520518cfdb57" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10987:1" rel="noopener">China Merchants Bank H (3968 HK)</a> , ownership levels have moderated in the big four state banks.Against a backdrop of huge underperformance and low ownership levels, the majority of the active managers in our analysis are still positioned underweight in the China banks.  If the growth over value narrative does change, China Banks are one of the places you want to be.Analysis taken from our China fund universe, covering 114 active strategies with combined AUM of $62bn.

A negative feedback loop of poor sentiment, managers selling down positions leading to big underperformance has caused allocations in China banks to more than halve over the past 2-years.  An exodus out of the four major state banks has occurred across GEM, Asia Ex-Japan and China managers as the narrative has focused on growth over value.  From an ownership perspective, there are signs that this is bottoming out.  Underweights are being closed, funds are moving back in and weights are moving higher.  Whilst inflows remain skewed towards the higher growth and premium valuation stocks of Ping An Bank Co Ltd A (000001 CH) and China Merchants Bank H (3968 HK) , ownership levels have moderated in the big four state banks.Against a backdrop of huge underperformance and low ownership levels, the majority of the active managers in our analysis are still positioned underweight in the China banks.  If the growth over value narrative does change, China Banks are one of the places you want to be.Analysis taken from our China fund universe, covering 114 active strategies with combined AUM of $62bn.

*D-SIB Standards Released: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Bank and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on December 3, 2020 released finalized standards for the country’s domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), and indicated that tighter regulations will be announced shortly; and* Aggressive Capital Raises Expected: In our view, the forthcoming regulations are likely to focus on: additional paid-in capital; leverage ratios; risk concentrations; corporate governance; disclosure levels; and mechanism to prevent systemic risk; and internal controls. The idea is to finally strengthen mainland Chinese bank balance sheets and improve their loss absorption capacity. Problem for equity raises is that P/BV must be over 1.0x for the raise and many of the potential D-SIBs are trading below book value.

*D-SIB Standards Released: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Bank and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on December 3, 2020 released finalized standards for the country’s domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), and indicated that tighter regulations will be announced shortly; and* Aggressive Capital Raises Expected: In our view, the forthcoming regulations are likely to focus on: additional paid-in capital; leverage ratios; risk concentrations; corporate governance; disclosure levels; and mechanism to prevent systemic risk; and internal controls. The idea is to finally strengthen mainland Chinese bank balance sheets and improve their loss absorption capacity. Problem for equity raises is that P/BV must be over 1.0x for the raise and many of the potential D-SIBs are trading below book value. 

*Don’t Be Misled By Better Numbers: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK) [ICBC] reported stronger 3Q20 results than 2Q20, coming in at CNY 80.3 bn - increasing CNY 15.6 bn (24.1%) linked quarter. The linked quarter Improvement is largely attributed to three factors: a) net interest income improvement of CNY 4.0 bn (2.6%) on both a 1 bp NIM improvement to 1.92%, and 2.6% loan growth; b) a CNY 11.7 bn (17.7%) decline in loss provisioning despite marked credit weakness; and c) a 700 bp decline in ICBC’s tax rate to 15.2%; and *Credit Risk Rising: As ICBC is the benchmark name to which all mainland Chinese banks are measured, an increase of such magnitude is more than alarming – and intimates mainland Chinese bank credit risk is moving in oppositive directions to their counterparts in India. When one considers the current break in credit quality reserves would appear to be incredibly light – in the neighborhood of CNY 419 bn which amounts to over a year of pre-tax results at ICBC.

*Don’t Be Misled By Better Numbers: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK) [ICBC] reported stronger 3Q20 results than 2Q20, coming in at CNY 80.3 bn - increasing CNY 15.6 bn (24.1%) linked quarter. The linked quarter Improvement is largely attributed to three factors: a) net interest income improvement of CNY 4.0 bn (2.6%) on both a 1 bp NIM improvement to 1.92%, and 2.6% loan growth; b) a CNY 11.7 bn (17.7%) decline in loss provisioning despite marked credit weakness; and c) a 700 bp decline in ICBC’s tax rate to 15.2%; and *Credit Risk Rising: As ICBC is the benchmark name to which all mainland Chinese banks are measured, an increase of such magnitude is more than alarming – and intimates mainland Chinese bank credit risk is moving in oppositive directions to their counterparts in India. When one considers the current break in credit quality reserves would appear to be incredibly light – in the neighborhood of CNY 419 bn which amounts to over a year of pre-tax results at ICBC.      

ICBC – Be Very Wary Of Worsening Credit

China

Industrial Bank Co.,Ltd. provides banking services. The Company offers deposits, loans, fund management, foreign currency management, and other services. Industrial Bank provides its services to individuals, enterprises, and other clients.

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Industrial Bank Co Ltd A (601166 CH)

China Banks – Big Capital Raises Coming

CHINA BANKS: The PBOC and CBIRC released finalized new capital standards for the country’s D-SIBs. Equity raises require P/BV over 1.0x and many of...

Thomas J. Monaco

Industrial Bank – Not Out Of The Woods

INDUSTRIAL BANK: Industrial reported a disappointing QOQ 4Q20 earnings decline of 23.5%. Industrial struggled with negative operating jaws, and...

Thomas J. Monaco

China Banks: Bottoming Out

China and HK banks have seen a large scale exodus from active China investors over the past 2 years. Managers now find themselves underweight and...

Steven Holden

China Banks – About Time

CHINA BANKS: PBOC and CBIRC Released Finalized D-SIB Standards and Indicated Tighter Regulations. Aggressive Capital Raises Are Expected.

Thomas J. Monaco

ICBC – Be Very Wary Of Worsening Credit

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA: Don't Believe The Hype. Numbers Manufactured, and Credit Risk Suggests Long Winter For ICBC and Mainland...

Thomas J. Monaco

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