Rajat Sharma, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


The only thing I have done for a few of my client portfolios is that we have not sold off a lot of equity positions, but we purchased put options for the month ending January, says Rajat Sharma, CEO, Sana Securities.

Whether it is Tata Group, Birla Group, Indiabulls, or Reliance, all have done a lot of deleveraging during the Covid period. They got plenty of cost savings, and that led to debt improvement. Do you think those are some companies, sectors, groups that you would look at?
What the smarter companies do when interest rates are low, there is so much liquidity, is that they would do more issues of paper and reduce the leverage on their books. Reliance has done that. I was reading about their treasury operations, where they have picked up money at very, very good rates at this time.

I am not worried about what happens to the balance sheets of some of these larger companies. Instead, financial services-particularly large banks is the sector I am worried about.

For the last two years, since there has been a lockdown, nobody has compelled or at least I have not read anything about the amount of loan restructured, how many people took advantage of the moratorium and did not pay interest. Everything keeps getting delayed.

Auditors are being pushed to increase the time to six months, eight months and give us more time to make provisions or declare NPAs. If interest rates were to go up even by 25-50 bps and the cost of capital becomes expensive, you will see a lot of pain in financial services.

It may not be hard to believe right now because everything is hunky-dory. There is so much liquidity around, but this cannot go on forever. There must be some pain somewhere for people not working, not getting salaries and businesses shut. How could that all disappear? So I am more worried about how they will perform over the next four-five quarters.

Have you been a buyer in the recent decline that we have seen from the October highs?
No, not at all. The only thing I have done for a few of my client portfolios is that we have not sold off a lot of equity positions, but we purchased put options for the month ending January. That is to disclose about 1% of the total portfolio size. For example, if somebody has a portfolio of Rs.20 lakhs, then 1% would be something like Rs. 20,000 and so on. So three lots of Nifty for every Rs.20 lakhs, so that is the only thing we have done for clients where portfolios are in equity, and we have not sold off anything, but other than that, we sold off stocks and are holding cash.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Indian banks behind the curve on payments: Uday Kotak

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Banks have been “short sighted” in the last three years on the payments business which is now monopolised by two or three payment companies, said veteran banker Uday Kotak, and urged them to “wake up”.

“Indian banks are behind the curve. Indian banks have allowed the growth of UPI payments that have been essentially monopolised by two players — Google Pay and PhonePe — which have 85 per cent of the market share,” said Kotak, Managing Director and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday.

Wake-up call

Addressing the InFinity Forum organised by IFSCA and Bloomberg, Kotak added that this is a wake up call for Indian banking.

“Wake up or you will see large parts of traditional financial systems move out,” he said.

Also see: Fintech risk landscape

Noting that bankers had been short-sighted over the last three years, Kotak said their standard response was that there is no money in payments.

He, however, stressed that consumer protection has to be the key priority when fintech companies grow.

Legal boundaries

Consumer tech companies have revenue models which are outside finance — such as advertising and e-commerce — while banks legally can not enter non-financial businesses, Kotak noted.

“So, there are serious issues of how to draw lines and, simultaneously, there are issues on financial stability,” he said.

Keep trust

While underlining that he is not against competition, Kotak said that we need to make sure that competitive service mustn’t lead to systemic and stability challenge.

Also see: Digital payments remain strong, marginal decline in November

“We must ask the question of who runs the risk when raising the deposit — is it the consumer tech company which is facing customers and raising deposits who runs the risk of the underlying asset? As we grow fintech, we must make sure that we do not betray trust,” he added.

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Changes in Banking Regulation Act in works, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


The government is eyeing changes to the Banking Regulation Act to bar new bank licence holders from certain specified business activities through the main banking entity.

The move is aimed at aligning certain sections of the Banking Regulation Act with the norms stipulated by the banking regulator, Reserve Bank of India.

Provisions being examined as part of the proposed amendment include rules which restrict new bank license holders to carry out specified business activities both from a separate entity and the bank.

At present, under Section 19 of the BR Act, a banking company can form any subsidiary for undertaking any business permissible for a banking company to undertake. “We have received representation from various stakeholders, this is being examined but no decision has been taken,” said a government official aware of the developments adding that there has been a demand to bring parity as existing banks including foreign lenders are allowed to undertake such business both through subsidiary and in-house.

In 2016, the RBI had issued “Guidelines for ‘on tap’ Licensing of Universal Banks in the Private Sector” under which it stipulated that specialised activities can be conducted through a separate entity after prior approval from RBI under the non-operating financial holding company or NOFHC. But, it has to be ensured that similar activities are not conducted through the bank.

In their representation, some stakeholders argued that the RBI guidelines and the provisions under the Banking Regulation Act are not in sync. The internal working group of RBI had also recommended that the concerns with regard to banks undertaking different activities through subsidiaries or associates need to be addressed through suitable regulations till the NOFHC structure is made feasible and operational.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Bank branch addition drops 82% in FY21; bankers bet on phygital model, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


The branch addition by banks fell to a decade low in fiscal 2021, felled by digitisation, pandemic and growth of alternative channels such as business correspondents.

Banks added only 1,383 branches in FY2021 as against 7,728 branches in FY2020.

As of March-end 2021, the network of offices of scheduled commercial banks increased to 1,54,485 from 1,53,102 as against a year ago, as per RBI data.

The consolidation of banks into five large banks too led to a drop in the number of branches as banks went for right sizing of operations following the amalgamation of several PSBs.

Phygital model

Even as there is a surge in adoption of digital banking, physical branches will continue to be relevant as a large percentage of customers are more comfortable doing transactions at branches, according to bankers.

Banks should make efforts in educating customers about various aspects of digital banking so that they can conveniently use these channels.

“I think branches, as a mode or a channel, will not be totally discounted. There is still a significant population who will be more comfortable in one-to-one dealings rather than only digital.

“Therefore, this world of physical plus digital or phygital will be the way forward,” State Bank of India Managing Director Ashwini K Tiwari said at ETBFSI Converge.

City Union Bank Managing Director and CEO N Kamakodi said that though the older generations are much comfortable with the manual banking channel, many of them are now trying to use the digital channel also.

“Around 90 per cent of the banking transactions in India have now started moving into the non-branch channel such as internet banking, mobile banking or ATM. The number of transactions happening at the branches are in single digit,” he said.

Business correspondent growth

The business correspondent outlets of public sector banks in villages have shrunk during 2016 and 2020 while private banks have shown positive growth.

“PSBs dominated the number of BC outlets in villages, but during the review period, on account of consolidation, their BC outlets showed negative growth,” according to an RBI study said.

PSBs’ share in BC village outlets has dropped marginally to 57 per cent in 2020 from 60 per cent in 2016.

The growth in BC outlets in villages was also negative for regional rural banks.

The share of PSBs in BC outlets in rural areas has remained consistently above 60% over the years, being the highest among the bank groups.

Private banks shine

As PSBs continued to maintain their hold, PVBs too registered a higher growth in both access and usage indicators during the review period. There was a growth in BC outlets in villages for PVBs with the growth being significantly high for the north-eastern, eastern and central regions, surpassing the growth of PSBs and RRBs together.

PVBs also significantly improved their tally of urban BC outlets during the five years with their share growing from 77 per cent in 2016 to 97 per cent in 2020. On similar lines, contribution of PVBs in the total number of BC agents too grew exponentially from 37 per cent in 2016 to 80 per cent in 2020.

The BC model grows

“From being an alternate delivery model, the BC model is emerging as the predominant delivery model. While the growth in number of rural branches remained subdued during the review period, there was a significant growth in BC outlets in both villages and urban pockets providing formal financial services at the doorstep of large number of unserved/underserved population,” the study said.

The study noted that about 56 per cent of total Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDAs) and 65 per cent of General Credit Cards (GCCs) were channelled through BCs. While BCs of public sector banks (PSBs) dominated the deposit space, private sector banks (PVBs) accounted for a major share in GCCs through BCs.

During the review period, the total transactions routed through BC outlets increased considerably both in terms of volume as well as value, it said.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Union Bank to CBI, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


The Union Bank of India has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the promoters and erstwhile management of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 40,623.36 crores (as on July 30, 2020) crores to the consortium of banks led by Union Bank of India.

In its complaint, the lead bank has affixed the findings of audit firm, KPMG engaged by the consortium which has prima facie found, “deviation of laid down norms and procedures, manipulation of accounts, concealments, undisclosed bank accounts and misrepresentation”.

While the CBI is probing the promoters: Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the Yes Bank scam, sources said even while prima facie there is a case of fraud of loss of public money, the federal agency cannot register a fresh FIR for the want of general consent which needs to be accord by the Maharashtra government. In August last year in the aftermath of the probe into the manipulation of television rating points (TRP), the state government withdrew consent to the agency accorded to the CBI under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. A general consent is a must for the CBI to register an offence in the state, in its
absence, the federal agency has to approach the state government on a case to case basis seeking permission to conduct investigation.

Maharashtra is not the only state to withdraw consent, claiming vendetta by the centre, even other non-NDA states mainly West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab in the last one year have withdrawn general consent.

“Communication and representation has been made to the state government but consent hasn’t been accorded. The loss caused to public money is over Rs 40,000 crores and prima facie there is fraud committed by the promoter and the erstwhile management which requires to be investigated thoroughly,” said a senior official privy to the development.

Union Bank of India was not immediately available for comment.

The special audit report prepared by KPMG against the erstwhile management has found DHFL disbursed loans and advances totalling to Rs19,754 crores to 35 entities with commonalities to DHFL promoter. “…of these 25 entities had reported minimal operations and were disbursed loans and issued ICDs amounting to Rs14.632”. This number reached to 66 in the subsequent report submitted by KPMG. “Various emails evidencing that DHFL promoters were in control of multiple entities to the extent of appointment of directors and auditors, having income tax notices, maintenance of secretarial records of various companies”.

It also found that loans and advances to the tune of Rs 25,595 crores were disbursed to 65 entities having various deficiencies such as borrowers had minimal operations, inadequate loan documentation, mortgage security valuation and others, states the report accessed by ET reads. The audit also observed that repayments of 169 entities of Rs 5,476 crores could not be traced in DHFL’s bank account statements.

It also found a “Bandra Book entity”, that maintained the details of non-existing retail loans using dummy names which were maintained in a separate accounting system and then transferred to main accounting software of DHFL called Synergy. Rs 14,095.08 crores stated as project finance was prima facie falsely stated as retail loans and 1.81,664 fictions retail loan accounts were created for the same, the report states.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

S&P, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Earnings of Indian banks will get a boost from easing non-performing loans and the nation’s economic recovery that will drive demand for credit.

Many large banks saw their nonperforming loan ratios decline “as new NPA formation was more than offset by recoveries on retail loans,” said Nikita Anand, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings, after both private-sector and government-owned banks reported an improvement in overall asset quality in the fiscal second quarter that ended Sept. 30. “[The banks’] earnings have improved with credit costs moderating,” he said.

As on September 30, the weak loan ratio peaked close to 10 per cent. Credit costs, which reflect provisioning on bad loans, will also likely hit their lowest level in 7 years. This in turn should boost earnings, according to S&P.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank by assets, reported total NPAs of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the quarter ended September 30, down from Rs 1.36 lakh crore in the previous quarter and Rs 1.27 lakh crore in the same period a year ago. Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank also saw quarter-over-quarter falls in NPAs.

Meanwhile, the ratings agency said that it is sceptical of allowing corporate ownership in banks, given India’s weak corporate governance. Corporate ownership of banks raises risks of intergroup lending, diversion of funds and reputational exposure, it said. Currently, the Reserve Bank of India refrained from allowing corporate ownership in banks.

Better asset quality, economic rebound brighten Indian banks' earnings outlook: S&P

Economy on mend

India’s economy grew 20.1% year over year in the April-to-June quarter, recovering from a 24.4% contraction in the same period of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a strict lockdown across the country. The Reserve Bank of India expects the economy to grow about 9.5% in the fiscal year to March 2022, and Governor Shaktikanta Das on November 16 underscored the “need for sustained impetus so that growth could return to, or better still, exceed the pre-pandemic trend.”

The rating agency said that the economy’s expansion is expected to outpace that of developing market peers in the coming few years. “In comparison, some tourism-dependent countries, such as Thailand, are likely to see long-term scarring as we expect only a gradual resumption of travel-related industries,” they agency said.

Ahead of the Diwali festive season, gross bank credit grew 6.7% year over year in both August and September, reversing a contraction earlier in the year, central bank data show.

“With cash flows improving for underlying borrowers due to easing of the pandemic and lockdowns, most banks have reported an improvement in asset quality and reduction in nonperforming assets,” said Krishnan Sitaraman, senior director at Crisil, a unit of S&P Global Inc.

“It is also a reflection of the clear improvement in economic fundamentals for the country” after the economy contracted 7.3% in the year that ended March 31, 2021, Sitaraman said.

Banks are likely to sustain their earnings improvement in 2022 if credit costs continue to moderate, though Sitaraman flagged the risk of a possible fresh wave of Covid infections and its potential impact on economic activity.

Better asset quality, economic rebound brighten Indian banks' earnings outlook: S&P

Better earnings

The net profit of State Bank of India in the second quarter rose to Rs 8,890 crore from Rs 5,246 crore in the prior-year period. ICICI Bank Ltd’s net profit increased to Rs 6,092 crore from Rs 4,882 crore in the prior-year period.

SBI’s credit cost and net interest margin profile were better than expectations, ICICI Securities said in a note after the lender reported its earnings. SBI’s management expects an opportunity to grow its corporate and small business portfolios as economic activity picks up, the merchant banking and retail broking arm of India’s second-biggest private-sector lender by assets said in a note. “SBI also has sufficient capital and liquidity on balance sheet to support growth.”

HDFC Bank, the country’s largest private-sector bank, saw its NPLs ease to Rs 21,000 crore from Rs 23,000 crore in the first quarter. The lender said its bad loans from small-and-medium scale businesses declined over the previous quarter and the corporate book is resilient, suggesting that a bigger part of incremental delinquency is flowing from the retail and agriculture segments, ICICI Securities said in a note after HDFC reported its earnings.

“Further curtailment of slippages, better recoveries and improved collections will support asset quality trends in coming quarters [for HDFC Bank],” according to ICICI Securities.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Get the full list here, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


With upcoming festivities like Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, a total of seven holidays, apart from Sundays and second and fourth Saturdays, have been announced for next month. Shillong has as many as four holidays, apart from weekend leaves.

The Reserve Bank of India has issued the list of holidays for 2021 in its annual list. Accordingly, all public and private sector banks across India will remain closed for up to 12 days in December, including weekend leaves.

Here is the full list of holidays for the month of December 2021:

December 3: Feast of St. Francis Xavier — Goa

December 18: Death Anniversary of U SoSo Tham — Shillong

December 24: Christmas Festival (Christmas Eve) — Aizawl, Shillong

December 25: Christmas — Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram

December 27: Christmas Celebration — Aizawl

December 30: U Kiang Nangbah — Shillong

December 31: New Year’s Eve — Aizawl

Apart from this list of leaves as per the Holiday Under Negotiable Instruments Act, banks will also remain closed on some of the days of the weekends. These are mentioned below:

December 5: Sunday

December 11: Second Saturday of the month

December 12: Sunday

December 19: Sunday

December 25: Fourth Saturday of the month and Christmas

December 26: Sunday



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

RBI keeps big business houses out of banking, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India has not accepted a proposal to consider large corporates or industrial houses for a banking licence.

It has however allowed promoters of banks to hold up to 26% in their banks, which is a positive for many lenders including Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank and CSB Bank. The new norms allow those who have already diluted stakes to hike their shareholding.

RBI on Friday said it has accepted 21 of the 33 recommendations made last year by an internal working group to review extant ownership and corporate structure for Indian private sector banks. A key proposal that was accepted was to increase the capital requirement for new applicants to Rs 1,000 crore instead of Rs 500 crore.

In November 2020, the Internal Working Group to Review Extant Ownership Guidelines and Corporate Structure for Indian Private Sector Banks had said that corporates may be allowed as promoters of banks only after necessary amendments to the Banking Regulations Act, 1949. This would enable RBI to have the power to do consolidated supervision of conglomerates.

It had also said that well-run NBFCs including those owned by corporate houses should be considered for bank licences. Industry insiders speculate that Bajaj Finserv, L&T Finance and Piramal might be the corporate houses still interested in pursuing bank licences. While Bajaj is active in most banking activities, Piramal has acquired DHFL as part of its goal to increase retail business and has bought in a former banker to head its financial services. L&T Finance had earlier declared its intent to pursue a bank licence.

The recommendation had faced criticism from several quarters and RBI too has been uncomfortable to allow business houses into banking. The regulator remained mum on this specific proposal but said that the proposals not accepted are under examination.

One of the proposals not accepted in full was that payments banks be allowed to convert into small finance banks after three years.

Current rules require promoters’ stake in private banks to be diluted to 15% after 15 years. According to sources, RBI agreed to this as the ceiling on the voting rights which a shareholder in a banking company may exercise has been raised by RBI in July 2016 to 26%, which is the level permitted in Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the new limit aligns with the legislative intent. This is also consistent with the foreign direct investment policy.

Bankers said that a higher limit was required as it will enable promoters to infuse higher funds/capital which is critical for the growth of banks and function as a cushion during distress or a cyclical downturn.

Ashok Hinduja, chairman of IIHL, Mauritius, promoter entity of IndusInd Bank, said the increased promoter holding of 26% will benefit all stakeholders, particularly at this time when Indian economy is poised for exponential growth. “We eagerly await the operating guidelines as it gives the promoters an opportunity to inject capital to increase stake up to 26%,” he said.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

RBI stays mum on allowing corporate entities to own banks, allows raising of minimum holding, BFSI News, ET BFSI

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India on Friday has accepted the majority of the recommendations made by the internal working group on the review of ownership guidelines and corporate structure of private sector banks.

The central bank has accepted 21 out of the 33 recommendations made by the internal panel with certain modifications.

However, the central bank has kept under examination one of the most crucial recommendations by the internal working group pertaining to allowing corporate entities to own banks.

Among the most important recommendations accepted by the RBI is raising the long-term holding cap of promoters in private sector banks to 26 per cent from 15 per cent currently. Further, under the same recommendation, existing promoters with holdings below the 26 per cent threshold will be allowed to raise their stake.

“The promoter, if he/she so desires, can choose to bring down holding to even below 26 per cent, any time after the lock-in period of five years,” the RBI circular said.

The regulator has also modified the long-term cap on non-promoter shareholding in banks. The RBI said that long-term non-promoter shareholding will be capped at 10 per cent for natural persons and non-financial entities. However, the same for financial entities will now stand at 15 per cent of the paid-up voting equity share capital.

The RBI has also accepted the working group’s recommendations to allow banks that have a non-operative financial holding company structure to exit the same if they do not have any other group entities. However, the structure of NOFHC will continue to prevail for new licensees with other group entities.

In a setback for payments banks hoping to convert into small finance banks, the RBI said that the criteria of 5 years of experience as a payments bank to get an SFB license will continue along with other requirements mentioned in on-tap licensing for SFBs.

The regulator has also accepted the recommendation that will allow promoters to pledge their shareholding in the bank during the lock-in period. The central bank also said that a new reporting requirement will be brought for disclosures pertaining to pledging of holdings by bank promoters.

The RBI has also raised the minimum capital requirement for applicants for various types of banks. The initial capital for universal banks has been raised to Rs. 1,000 crore from Rs. 500 crore, for SFBs it has been raised from Rs. 200 crore to Rs. 300 crore and for UCBs transitioning to SFBs to Rs. 150 crore from Rs. 100 crore.

The central bank said that the circulars, amendments and instructions for the implementation of the accepted recommendations of the internal working group be notified in “due course”.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Role reversal: India Inc ‘lending’ to banks via AT-1 bonds

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


A role reversal seems to be happening in the Indian financial markets, with India Inc lending to banks instead of borrowing from them.

High returns on investments in Additional Tier-I (AT) bonds issued by public sector banks is proving to be attractive for large corporates even as bank credit to them has declined.

This development comes amid mutual funds avoiding AT-1 bonds (Perpetual Debt Instruments) due to SEBI restrictions.

Given that corporates have substantially deleveraged over the last few years and are sitting on the fence when it comes to fresh capital expenditure, they are channelising their surplus funds parked with banks and mutual funds into AT-1 bonds, according to a fund manager with an MF.

Bank credit to large industries contracted by 1 per cent in September 2021 against a contraction of 0.2 per cent a year ago, per latest RBI data.

Opportunistic investment

The investment by corporates in PSBs’ AT-1 bonds is opportunistic. Banks are offering relatively higher interest rates on these bonds to attract investors after SEBI’s March 2021 circular on “investment in instruments having special features and valuation of perpetual bonds” discouraged MFs from investing in them.

Union Bank of India recently raised ₹2,000 crore via AT-1 bonds at a coupon rate of 8.70 per cent. The PSB had earlier mopped up resources via AT-1 bonds twice — ₹1,000 crore (coupon: 8.64 per cent) in early January 2021 and ₹205 crore (8.73 per cent) late the same month.

Though AT-1 bonds are perpetual in nature, banks usually exercise the call option at the end of five years from the date of issuance. So, a corporate can earn higher returns by investing in these bonds than by parking in a five-year term deposit which fetches about 5.50 per cent.

PSBs are raising resources through AT-1 bonds as they have call options due in the current fiscal and the next on the bonds they had issued earlier. Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank are among the PSBs believed to be considering raising resources via AT-1 route.

MFs shrink away

Among the reasons for MFs to keep away from these bonds is that their maturity is treated as 100 years from their date of issuance for the purpose of valuation as against the current practice of valuing them based on the time left for the next call option date.

So, MFs fear mark-to-market losses due to this change in the valuation norm, for if interest rates rise, the price of longer tenure bonds will depreciate much more than the short-to-medium term instruments.

By ICRA’s estimates based on industry data, MFs held 30 per cent of the outstanding Tier-I bonds and 14 per cent of the outstanding Tier-II bonds as on February 2021.

The credit rating agency assessed that the holding of Basel III compliant AT-I and Tier-II instruments is estimated at 8 per cent of the assets under management of MF schemes holding these instruments, thereby limiting the headroom for incremental investments.

ICRA, in its outlook for the banking sector for FY22, had estimated the Tier-I capital requirements for PSBs at ₹43,000 crore, of which ₹23,000 crore is on account of call options falling due on AT-I bonds, while the balance is estimated as the equity.

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

1 2 3 24