Asian bank research and consultancy, Tabbush Report

Daniel Tabbush

Asian bank research and consultancy

Tabbush Report

We provide research and consultancy on Asian banks. Our focus is on what we call “Asian bank research, without the noise.” We are interested in the most critical swing-factors for banks, the NPL and credit cycle, and where we believe there is a gap between perception and reality. We often focus on the less studied components of bank financial statements.  Our research is highly thematic, sometimes examining unlisted banks and companies as a window on mainstream banks. 

Being independent allows us to look at smaller banks, often overlooked by others. Analysis of BIS bank guidelines in the context of Asia, is also a focal point, while we also analyze global banks operating in the region. We use what we believe is the most comprehensive, reliable financials database, SNL Financial. S&P Capital IQ augments our database, with corporate data and CEIC, with economics. 

Asian bank research, without the noise.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>There are many simple domestic banks that can shine in a complex world</li>
<li>Outside of the largest banks in many regions, there are uncovered gems</li>
<li>This lessor known bank in Philippines has seen dramatic profit growth</li>
</ul>


There are many simple domestic banks that can shine in a complex world
Outside of the largest banks in many regions, there are uncovered gems
This lessor known bank in Philippines has seen dramatic profit growth


Financials Credit Analyst

Hank Calenti, CFA

CreditContinuum

Credit

Executive Summary:  A slightly declining US interest rate yield curve aided in driving credit spreads tighter during the month of May while Asia’s bank credit market conditions remained largely positive, despite the recent flare-up in Covid-19 cases across the region. Global market liquidity metrics continued to push investors into risk assets and Asia’s bank debt benefitted from concerns in other parts of the market.Asia’s Tier 2 bonds slightly outperformed Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds during May. Both bank debt capital components generated positive total returns during the month. Given five-year effective durations, Asia's AT1 bonds have generated slightly positive total returns year-to-date while Tier 2 notes lag. As with April, Asia’s (x-Japan) US$-denominated bank bond performance diverged by duration during the month of May. Shorter-duration bonds outperformed and, for the most part, longer duration notes underperformed in Option Adjusted Spread terms.Longer duration, high BB rated bonds led spread widening over the month. These bonds were also predominantly Basel III debt capital securities. Unlike in April, there was a mixture of low and high spread bonds amongst underperformers. This suggests greater investor differentiation, via credit fundamentals, in longer duration notes.

Executive Summary:  A slightly declining US interest rate yield curve aided in driving credit spreads tighter during the month of May while Asia’s bank credit market conditions remained largely positive, despite the recent flare-up in Covid-19 cases across the region. Global market liquidity metrics continued to push investors into risk assets and Asia’s bank debt benefitted from concerns in other parts of the market.Asia’s Tier 2 bonds slightly outperformed Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds during May. Both bank debt capital components generated positive total returns during the month. Given five-year effective durations, Asia's AT1 bonds have generated slightly positive total returns year-to-date while Tier 2 notes lag. As with April, Asia’s (x-Japan) US$-denominated bank bond performance diverged by duration during the month of May. Shorter-duration bonds outperformed and, for the most part, longer duration notes underperformed in Option Adjusted Spread terms.Longer duration, high BB rated bonds led spread widening over the month. These bonds were also predominantly Basel III debt capital securities. Unlike in April, there was a mixture of low and high spread bonds amongst underperformers. This suggests greater investor differentiation, via credit fundamentals, in longer duration notes.

Bank Credit Compass: Asia Tier 2 and Short Duration Notes Sit in the Sweet Spot

Executive Summary: Friday’s jobs report shocker capped off a week which included US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen needing to be Mirandized. This was followed by the Fed stating the obvious in its financial stability report. Unmentioned in this report is that the role of this Fed is no longer to take away the punchbowl, but instead it is the bartender. The week ended with a jobs report that was the biggest miss in nominal terms, ever.The report was at odds with recent PMI surveys in which respondents stated that it was difficult to hire. This may be the result of frictions in hiring as unemployment benefits as well as child-care needs and postponed school re-openings delay employee re-entry. The truth serum for the US economy may occur around September when extended unemployment payments expire.The market impact was an immediate 10 basis point (bp) drop in the 10-year Treasury while the 2-year note even fell 1bp. Prices on the 10-year gave up these gains as the day progressed, but the smart money, that is the bond market, may be correct with the recent dampening of interest rates suggesting a longer time period to a less accommodative Fed.  The US Treasury bond curve ended the week flatter with short-end yields falling by much less than the longer part of the curve.With rates continuing to push credit spreads, Asia- and European-headquartered banks generated negative total returns in all but the lowest duration notes. There was a clear preference for Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bond issuance over the past week while over US$11 billion equivalent was raised by financial institutions globally in USD and Euros. In what may have been the busiest AT1 bond issuance weeks of the year, five institutions brought over US$6.5 billion in six securities.Nonetheless, this is a great credit environment and spreads which could go even tighter into year-end. A single piece of data, such as April’s non-farm payroll figure, is unlikely to change investor positioning. It may be a little too early to fade the market as fundamentals catch-up.Next week we will get a record-matching $126 billion slate of Treasury auctions. We may also see a robust serving of corporate and financials debt issuance. US consumer-price data is set to be published on Tuesday, 12 May. A sharp annual acceleration is forecast, although the market is likely to dismiss the figure as resulting from a comparison to depressed levels of a year earlier.With peak Q1 earnings season now behind us, Japanese banks will deliver their year-end results over the next week while several other stragglers pepper the remainder of the month. US banks signaled that they anticipate significantly higher interest rates by raising record breaking amounts in the debt capital markets following their Q1 earnings announcements. Other banks may follow with material debt issuance over the next few weeks after reporting earnings.Market Outlook: The question is whether the over-heating narrative will make a comeback and bring rate and tapering expectations closer. Financial stability risks appear binary from here. Either the Fed is over-accommodative, and it sits on its hands too long while asset bubbles over-inflate so that it gets nasty when it moves, or the Fed gets impatient, and it lowers accommodation unexpectedly which creates a risk off reaction. In both cases, curves flatten in a risk-off environment. We suspect the former is more likely, and for now, the Fed remains the bartender.

Executive Summary: Friday’s jobs report shocker capped off a week which included US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen needing to be Mirandized. This was followed by the Fed stating the obvious in its financial stability report. Unmentioned in this report is that the role of this Fed is no longer to take away the punchbowl, but instead it is the bartender. The week ended with a jobs report that was the biggest miss in nominal terms, ever.The report was at odds with recent PMI surveys in which respondents stated that it was difficult to hire. This may be the result of frictions in hiring as unemployment benefits as well as child-care needs and postponed school re-openings delay employee re-entry. The truth serum for the US economy may occur around September when extended unemployment payments expire.The market impact was an immediate 10 basis point (bp) drop in the 10-year Treasury while the 2-year note even fell 1bp. Prices on the 10-year gave up these gains as the day progressed, but the smart money, that is the bond market, may be correct with the recent dampening of interest rates suggesting a longer time period to a less accommodative Fed.  The US Treasury bond curve ended the week flatter with short-end yields falling by much less than the longer part of the curve.With rates continuing to push credit spreads, Asia- and European-headquartered banks generated negative total returns in all but the lowest duration notes. There was a clear preference for Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bond issuance over the past week while over US$11 billion equivalent was raised by financial institutions globally in USD and Euros. In what may have been the busiest AT1 bond issuance weeks of the year, five institutions brought over US$6.5 billion in six securities.Nonetheless, this is a great credit environment and spreads which could go even tighter into year-end. A single piece of data, such as April’s non-farm payroll figure, is unlikely to change investor positioning. It may be a little too early to fade the market as fundamentals catch-up.Next week we will get a record-matching $126 billion slate of Treasury auctions. We may also see a robust serving of corporate and financials debt issuance. US consumer-price data is set to be published on Tuesday, 12 May. A sharp annual acceleration is forecast, although the market is likely to dismiss the figure as resulting from a comparison to depressed levels of a year earlier.With peak Q1 earnings season now behind us, Japanese banks will deliver their year-end results over the next week while several other stragglers pepper the remainder of the month. US banks signaled that they anticipate significantly higher interest rates by raising record breaking amounts in the debt capital markets following their Q1 earnings announcements. Other banks may follow with material debt issuance over the next few weeks after reporting earnings.Market Outlook: The question is whether the over-heating narrative will make a comeback and bring rate and tapering expectations closer. Financial stability risks appear binary from here. Either the Fed is over-accommodative, and it sits on its hands too long while asset bubbles over-inflate so that it gets nasty when it moves, or the Fed gets impatient, and it lowers accommodation unexpectedly which creates a risk off reaction. In both cases, curves flatten in a risk-off environment. We suspect the former is more likely, and for now, the Fed remains the bartender.

Bank Credit Weekly: Jobs Report Shocker Flattens Curves

Executive Summary: Momentum behind the recent Treasury market rally may be starting to slow. Greater conviction is likely to build over the weeks which follow as economic data is published, rather than result from this week’s FOMC meeting.It is unlikely that the Fed will signal that it is ready to start tapering its asset purchase program this week. We are yet to see the whites of wage-growth eyes. Meanwhile, Canada became the first major economy to signal an exit from asset purchases. Canada’s central bank also indicated that a rate rise is now expected in the second half of 2022. Global interest rates did not react.  However, we may be tricked into seeing things which not there as upcoming wage data may point to rapidly falling wages.As such, the narrative remains left to be taken in the fixed income markets.  We may have reached a peak in short positioning unwinding and the re-entry of Japanese investors in the market is also taken as a given. Unexpectedly good economic data over the next few weeks could be bad for Treasury yields.  This could re-ignite the reflation and carry-trade rallies.While Treasuries continue to tread water, spreads on US CCC rated notes continued to trade at levels not seen since prior to the Global Financial Crisis in 2007. Investors are becoming concerned that the stretch for yield may be overdone. Excess US spread compression could benefit Asia HY as investors move offshore to grab better yields and excess spreads.In the bank credit markets, Asia-headquartered institution performed across the credit continuum while European bank bond remained stuck with carry-trade unwind performance. The combination of spread tightening and Treasury bond curve flattening generated positive total returns amongst Asia banks.We will hit the peak in bank earnings reports in the upcoming week. US banks set a high bar for performance by generating stellar investment banking and progressively improving core banking results over the last two weeks. They then signaled that they anticipate significantly higher interest rates later this year by raising record breaking amounts in the debt capital markets. Other banks may follow with material debt issuance over the next few weeks after reporting earnings this week.  We explore these market themes within.Market Outlook: Already looking past upcoming spikes in inflation and job creation, the Treasury market is repricing for lower growth and lower rates over a longer time-period. This should be risk asset supportive as the US dollar finally weakens. The risk is that of impotent monetary policy and a constrained fiscal response in a shorter than expected business cycle.

Executive Summary: Momentum behind the recent Treasury market rally may be starting to slow. Greater conviction is likely to build over the weeks which follow as economic data is published, rather than result from this week’s FOMC meeting.It is unlikely that the Fed will signal that it is ready to start tapering its asset purchase program this week. We are yet to see the whites of wage-growth eyes. Meanwhile, Canada became the first major economy to signal an exit from asset purchases. Canada’s central bank also indicated that a rate rise is now expected in the second half of 2022. Global interest rates did not react.  However, we may be tricked into seeing things which not there as upcoming wage data may point to rapidly falling wages.As such, the narrative remains left to be taken in the fixed income markets.  We may have reached a peak in short positioning unwinding and the re-entry of Japanese investors in the market is also taken as a given. Unexpectedly good economic data over the next few weeks could be bad for Treasury yields.  This could re-ignite the reflation and carry-trade rallies.While Treasuries continue to tread water, spreads on US CCC rated notes continued to trade at levels not seen since prior to the Global Financial Crisis in 2007. Investors are becoming concerned that the stretch for yield may be overdone. Excess US spread compression could benefit Asia HY as investors move offshore to grab better yields and excess spreads.In the bank credit markets, Asia-headquartered institution performed across the credit continuum while European bank bond remained stuck with carry-trade unwind performance. The combination of spread tightening and Treasury bond curve flattening generated positive total returns amongst Asia banks.We will hit the peak in bank earnings reports in the upcoming week. US banks set a high bar for performance by generating stellar investment banking and progressively improving core banking results over the last two weeks. They then signaled that they anticipate significantly higher interest rates later this year by raising record breaking amounts in the debt capital markets. Other banks may follow with material debt issuance over the next few weeks after reporting earnings this week.  We explore these market themes within.Market Outlook: Already looking past upcoming spikes in inflation and job creation, the Treasury market is repricing for lower growth and lower rates over a longer time-period. This should be risk asset supportive as the US dollar finally weakens. The risk is that of impotent monetary policy and a constrained fiscal response in a shorter than expected business cycle.  

Bank Credit Weekly: Momentum Slows as Conviction Is Lacking

Global Bank Equity Specialist, Creative Portfolios

Paul Hollingworth

Global Bank Equity Specialist

Creative Portfolios

Rizal Commercial Banking / Equity Bottom-Up

Though not in the same league as top markets such as Pakistan, Turkey, or Egypt, Philippine banks are commanding better than average VFM Scores (Valuation, Fundamentals, Momentum). The market in general is not expensive versus long-term valuations, at least on a CAPE basis. (Trading at a 25% discount to average CAPE). We highlighted recently the merits of CHIB and add Rizal to our list of candidates for a small-cap GEM portfolio.Rizal dedicates itself to mainly corporate credit (69% of Loan book) and to a lesser extent consumer segments (31% of credit), backed by source of funding balanced by Savings-heavy CASA (56% of Deposits) and by time deposits (43%).FY20/19 results show robust fundamental trends. There were improvements in NIM/Spread, in Efficiency, in Capital Adequacy, in Liquidity, and in Provisioning. There was though deterioration in headline Asset Quality, characteristic of the System in general, while Profitability saw only lightweight erosion. The bottom-line was supported by firm “Core Income” growth, rooted in much lower Interest Expenses, combining with Margin and Efficiency gains, and with a steady contribution from non-core streams, which together more than offset a jump in LLPs which reduced Comprehensive Income growth to 78% YoY. Earnings Quality remains subpar at Rizal with its dependence on trading gains. However, progress on Efficiency, Capital Adequacy and Liquidity is highly encouraging. The bank’s toxic exposures are covered by loss-absorption buffers.<div class="content-highlight">A FV of 6%, a PBV of 0.33x, a Dividend Yield of 3.2%, an Earnings Yield of 16.8% are not unappealing, reflecting more growth of risk than risk of growth. On the latter, we are quite sanguine. Globally, Rizal commands a top decile VFM Score™ and a top quartile PH Score™ (7.8) : the latter  captures benign value-quality trends, including a supportive valuation variable. The VFM ranking encapsulates Fundamental Momentum, Valuation, and Technicals.</div>

Though not in the same league as top markets such as Pakistan, Turkey, or Egypt, Philippine banks are commanding better than average VFM Scores (Valuation, Fundamentals, Momentum). The market in general is not expensive versus long-term valuations, at least on a CAPE basis. (Trading at a 25% discount to average CAPE). We highlighted recently the merits of CHIB and add Rizal to our list of candidates for a small-cap GEM portfolio.Rizal dedicates itself to mainly corporate credit (69% of Loan book) and to a lesser extent consumer segments (31% of credit), backed by source of funding balanced by Savings-heavy CASA (56% of Deposits) and by time deposits (43%).FY20/19 results show robust fundamental trends. There were improvements in NIM/Spread, in Efficiency, in Capital Adequacy, in Liquidity, and in Provisioning. There was though deterioration in headline Asset Quality, characteristic of the System in general, while Profitability saw only lightweight erosion. The bottom-line was supported by firm “Core Income” growth, rooted in much lower Interest Expenses, combining with Margin and Efficiency gains, and with a steady contribution from non-core streams, which together more than offset a jump in LLPs which reduced Comprehensive Income growth to 78% YoY. Earnings Quality remains subpar at Rizal with its dependence on trading gains. However, progress on Efficiency, Capital Adequacy and Liquidity is highly encouraging. The bank’s toxic exposures are covered by loss-absorption buffers.A FV of 6%, a PBV of 0.33x, a Dividend Yield of 3.2%, an Earnings Yield of 16.8% are not unappealing, reflecting more growth of risk than risk of growth. On the latter, we are quite sanguine. Globally, Rizal commands a top decile VFM Score™ and a top quartile PH Score™ (7.8) : the latter  captures benign value-quality trends, including a supportive valuation variable. The VFM ranking encapsulates Fundamental Momentum, Valuation, and Technicals.

Rizal: Excessive Amount of Risk Priced In

Philippines

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation provides banking and financial products and services in the Philippines and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Treasury, and Others segments. The company�s deposit products include checking and savings accounts, time deposits, foreign currency deposits, and cash cards. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial and consumer loans; and wholesale lending, rediscounting, and guaranty facilities. The company also provides remittance, payment and settlement, treasury, trust, overdraft facilities, money market, and trading services. In addition, it offers corporate cash management services, such as collection and receivables services; disbursements; government payment services; and third party services comprising collection and receivables services, and payment management services. Further, the company provides investment banking services, such as the underwriting of debt and equity securities for distribution through public offering or private placement; syndicated loans, joint ventures, and project finance; financial advisory and consultancy services; and mergers and acquisitions services. Additionally, it offers ancillary services, including day and night depository, deposit pick-up and delivery, foreign currency conversions, foreign trade information, economic and investment research, wealth management, and safety deposit boxes; automated teller machines; bills payment machines; and mobile, Internet, phone banking, and e-Shop services. As of December 31, 2014, the company operated a network of 449 business centers, including 35 extension offices; and 1,202 ATMs. The company was formerly known as Rizal Development Bank and changed its name to Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in January 1963. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Makati City, the Philippines. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Yuchengco Group of Companies.

Rizal Commercial Banking (RCB PM)

Hail The Simple Banks

Simple and unfollowed banks in Asia-Pacific can reveal gems. CHIB in Philippines may be one of these banks, with exceptional core profit growth and...

Daniel Tabbush

Bank Credit Compass: Asia Tier 2 and Short Duration Notes Sit in the Sweet Spot

Asia’s Tier 2 notes slightly outperformed AT1 in May. Shorter-duration bonds outperformed although there was greater differentiation in longer...

Hank Calenti, CFA

Bank Credit Weekly: Jobs Report Shocker Flattens Curves

Job data raises uncertainty as the Fed continues to act as bartender. Financial stability risks appear binary while rates push credit spreads. Can...

Hank Calenti, CFA

Bank Credit Weekly: Momentum Slows as Conviction Is Lacking

Momentum behind the Treasury market started to slow. Greater conviction is likely to build over the weeks which follow as economic data is...

Hank Calenti, CFA

Rizal: Excessive Amount of Risk Priced In

Rizal is making some headway on key fundamental variables. Shares are attractively priced versus the risks. The Philippine Market is trading below...

Paul Hollingworth