Thursday, 28 January 2021

Strong Performance as growth returns to normalcy – Deposits grew 24%, Total Assets grew 21% YoY, 9MFY21 Profit After Tax at ₹ 1,002 Cr

Jaipur, January 28, 2021: The Board of Directors of AU Small Finance Bank Limited at its meeting held today, approved the unaudited financial results for quarter ended December 31, 2020.

Performance Highlight

Ø  Strengthened Digital Banking channels – rolled out new age Mobile Banking/Internet Banking, traction across payment channels, launched credit cards internally for Bank employees

Ø  Disbursements growth at 34% YoY in Q3FY21 driven by growth in demand across most key segments

Ø  AUM at ₹ 33,222 Cr with growth of 11% YoY, ~9% QoQ; Retail AUM remains dominant at ~91%

Ø  Gross NPA at 1.0% and Net NPA at 0.2%; PCR at 76%

Ø  PAT ₹ 1,002 Cr for 9MFY21 and  ₹ 479 Cr for Q3FY21

Ø  ROA for 9MFY21 was 3.0% and for Q3FY21 it was 4.2%; ROE was at 27.3% for 9MFY21 and 37.1% for Q3FY21

Ø  CRAR at 18.8%; Including 9M interim profits, CRAR at 22.9%

Ø  Basis the normalized environment and re-emergence of growth, the Bank is moving ahead with annual performance appraisal (increments) for FY20 for all employees in this quarter; the bonus has already been paid out in Q3FY21

Update on Operating Environment

Ø  Overall sentiment continues to improve with high COVID recovery rates, declining number of new COVID cases, and commencement of vaccination

Ø  Demand has normalized in most segments in Q3FY21; Q4FY21 is expected to be significantly better

Ø  Disproportionately impacted segments still lagging – Bus and Taxi segment in Wheels; Schools, Retail Garments and Rentals in SBL; Demand reviving with the improving operating environment

Ø  Pending clarity on NPL recognition should help accelerate recovery process as it would ease security enforcement

Ø  Bank is actively engaging with customers facing genuine stress due to COVID; continues to exercise caution in restructuring

Business Outlook

Ø  Overall sentiment continues to improve with high recovery rates, declining number of new cases, and commencement of vaccination

Ø  Demand has normalized in most segments in Q3FY21; Q4FY21 is expected to be significantly better

Ø  Disproportionately impacted segments still lagging – Bus and Taxi segment in Wheels; Schools, Retail Garments and Rentals in SBL; Demand reviving with the improving operating environment

Ø  Pending clarity on NPL recognition should help accelerate recovery process as it would ease security enforcement

Ø  Bank is actively engaging with customers facing genuine stress due to COVID; continues to exercise caution in restructuring

Branch Banking – Building a sustainable granular franchise

Ø  Continued traction in retailization of deposits and deepening of customers – Individual Driven Banking contributes ~60% of branch deposits as on Q3FY21 vs. 36% in Q3FY20

Ø  28% YoY growth in branch banking deposits led by SA growth of 85% and CA growth of 35%

Ø  Retail deposits (CASA + Retail TD) now at 55% of deposits vs 43% in Q3FY20; CASA ratio at 22% vs. 16% in Q3FY20

Ø  Gaining Market Share 41 branches now above 5% market share in deposits; 8 branches >10% market share

Ø  Added Branch footprint in 16 new locations including Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Lucknow

Ø  Attractive Merchant Offers with larger partners like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Swiggy, Zomato, Dominos, etc. leading to higher customer engagement and balances build up

Ø  Enhanced our 3rd party product range – Entered into partnerships with Care Health Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Ø  CRISIL awarded “FAA+/Stable” rating to AU Bank’s Fixed Deposits in Q3FY21

Assets – Promising outlook

Ø  Demand has been consistently improving and becoming more broad-based with pick-up in activity levels

Ø  AUM spreads remained stable at 7.6%; Incremental spreads improved to 8.1% in Q3FY21 vs 8.0% in Q3FY20

Ø  Collection efficiencies and activation rates have achieved normalcy across most segments

Ø  The Bank has been prudent in approving restructuring proposals basis our internal risk models and business viability; most of the restructuring has been for deferment of principal by 3/6 months while servicing of interest continues

Ø  In Q3FY21, the Bank restructured ₹ 251Cr (0.8% of gross advances), mainly in the bus, taxi (within wheels) and schools, apparels (within SBL); Overall restructured advances should stabilize at ~1.5% of gross advances including fresh restructuring that the Bank may undertake in Q4FY21

Digital Banking – Moving towards a Digital-led Bank

Ø  Remain actively engaged in mutually beneficial partnerships with major e-commerce players via offer campaigns;

Ø  National level E-Com players are more open to engage with us given our tech capabilities in API banking and our diverse customer base.

Ø  New platforms launched

o   New Internet and Mobile Banking platform launched for retail customers – 100+ features incl. ASBA, UPI, Investments, Bill Payments and various lifestyle related services like Taxi booking, Flight tickets, Hotels etc.

o   Credit card on our own platform with best-in-class partners; live for employees; customer launch in next few months

Ø  Digital payment Ecosystem – all channels live (UPI, FASTag, BBPS, AePS etc.);

§  Over 1.6Cr txns worth ~₹ 6,000 Crores executed in Q3FY21 on UPI platform

§  ₹ 172 Crores worth of payments executed in Q3FY21 using AePS platform

Ø  QR ecosystem continues to expand - ~28K new merchant QR Codes deployed in Q3FY21 – to boost CA acquisition, analytics-based lending

Ø  Digital on-boarding – Video Banking solution live for KYC, SA and FD A/c opening modules live

o   ~1,000+ SA and FD a/c opened in Q3FY21 using Video Banking

o   ~4,400 SA a/c opened via AU ABHI (end-to-end self-onboarding application of the Bank)

o   ~87% of all SA a/c and 60% of all CA a/c opened during the quarter were opened using digital solution via TAB banking

Ø  High emphasis on internal digitisation and automation of processes across verticals – optimise productivity and TAT

Ø  Investment in NPCI – to further augment our digital banking journey, AU Bank also participated in the equity raising process of NPCI to the maximum permissible limit

Update on Treasury

Ø  Overall cost of funds for 9MFY21 was at 6.95% - reduced by 74bps over FY20; Incremental cost for 9MFY21 was at 5.97% - down by 136 bps over FY20

Ø  Basis overall market environment, we have focused on maintaining optimum liquidity - LCR has been brought down in a calibrated manner from 150% as on 30th June’20 to 111% as on 31st Dec’20 (against regulatory requirement of 90%)

Ø  CD ratio as at 31st Dec 2020 was 102% vs 111% as on 31st Dec 2019; Average CD ratio for 9MFY21 at 101%

Commenting on the performance, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank said,

“I believe the worst is behind us, things are going to get better now with the public vaccination in horizon. We as a Bank stood strong in the last 9 months and have performed well enough on all metrics such as Deposit Growth, Liquidity, Asset Quality, Digital Banking, Inclusive Banking, Customer Engagement and Employee Safety & well-being. The accelerated growth of technology adoption has enabled us to offer seamless customer experience. We are working on various digital properties to create a holistic digital Bank. We have a positive outlook towards the growth of our economy, we believe we will grow with it as well.”

Key Financials:                        

(All figures in INR Crore)

31-Dec-20

31-Dec-19

Y-o-Y

30-Sep-20

Q-o-Q

Net Worth

5,403

4,237

28%

4,916

10%

Total Assets

46,605

38,394

21%

44,014

6%

Deposits

29,708

23,865

24%

26,980

10%

Advances

30,293

26,572

14%

27,233

11%

Key Ratios

31-Dec-20

30-Sep-20

31-Dec-19

Gross NPA (%)

1.0%

1.5%

1.9%

Net NPA (%)

0.2%

0.5%

1.0%

Capital Adequacy Ratio (%) CRAR

18.8%

21.5%

19.3%


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