Financials & FinTech research, Galliano’s Financials Research

Victor Galliano

Financials & FinTech research

Financials & FinTech, EM & Developed Markets

Galliano’s Financials Research

Galliano's Financials Research provides fundamental research in Emerging Markets financials, including FinTech, as well as financials in select Developed Markets.

The investment style applied is generally value oriented, although Growth At Reasonable Price (GARP) strategies can also be used where appropriate. 

Our investment research approach aim is often contrarian, looking to capitalise on overly sceptical or optimistic consensus views. In terms of valuation techniques, the focus is on PBV ratio to ROE, PE multiples and dividend yield, as well as the application of PEG ratios and, where appropriate, Sum of the Parts (SOTP) valuations.

Equity Bottom-Up

Itau Unibanco Holding  / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Banco do Brasil is the clear value pick among LatAm banks, with sound credit quality and capital metrics as well as positive asset sensitivity on a delayed basis</li>
<li>Itaú Unibanco is the most asset sensitive of the Brazilian banks, with its large consumer exposure, and it shows positive trends in terms of asset quality</li>
<li>Santander Brasil has greater credit quality headwinds than peers and is the least asset sensitive of the big four peers, with Bradesco’s positive asset sensitivity repricing more slowly</li>
</ul>


Banco do Brasil is the clear value pick among LatAm banks, with sound credit quality and capital metrics as well as positive asset sensitivity on a delayed basis
Itaú Unibanco is the most asset sensitive of the Brazilian banks, with its large consumer exposure, and it shows positive trends in terms of asset quality
Santander Brasil has greater credit quality headwinds than peers and is the least asset sensitive of the big four peers, with Bradesco’s positive asset sensitivity repricing more slowly


Brazil Banks: Our Picks on Asset Sensitivity and Credit Quality Are Itaú Unibanco & Banco Do Brasil

<ul>
<li>The prospect of Russia being excluded from key emerging market indices is very real, in our view, and here we focus on the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF</li>
<li>The main beneficiaries of an index re-balancing would be the dominant EM Asian economies, and select African economies, but we cannot disregard LatAm and in particular we concentrate on financials</li>
<li>Largest weightings aside, we highlight our preferred LatAm financial names based on fundamentals; Banco do Brasil, B3, BanColombia and Banco del Bajio, we also remove Banorte from the sell list</li>
</ul>


The prospect of Russia being excluded from key emerging market indices is very real, in our view, and here we focus on the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
The main beneficiaries of an index re-balancing would be the dominant EM Asian economies, and select African economies, but we cannot disregard LatAm and in particular we concentrate on financials
Largest weightings aside, we highlight our preferred LatAm financial names based on fundamentals; Banco do Brasil, B3, BanColombia and Banco del Bajio, we also remove Banorte from the sell list


EM Banks and Financials – The Rebalancing in Index Weightings from the LatAm Perspective

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>Nubank’s shares are above the issue price post-IPO, with investors buying into the digital banking opportunity in Brazil as well as Mexico and Colombia</li>
<li>The bulls argue that the growth potential is not yet reflected in valuations; it has very low costs, and its positive returns will follow from greater loan and product penetration</li>
<li>Nubanks’s valuation is very stretched; good customer penetration does not yet equal deep product penetration which drives revenue growth, and new markets – Mexico and Colombia – will pressure costs</li>
</ul>


Nubank’s shares are above the issue price post-IPO, with investors buying into the digital banking opportunity in Brazil as well as Mexico and Colombia
The bulls argue that the growth potential is not yet reflected in valuations; it has very low costs, and its positive returns will follow from greater loan and product penetration
Nubanks’s valuation is very stretched; good customer penetration does not yet equal deep product penetration which drives revenue growth, and new markets – Mexico and Colombia – will pressure costs


Nubank (NU US) – IPO Done, Now Comes the Hard Part

<ul>
<li>Brazil’s credit quality trends to April seem positive, on balance</li>
<li>Compared to March, there appear to be less concerning consumer credit quality and arrears (15-90 days delay) data</li>
<li>Credit quality to corporates shows that  even though credit risks are rising, the rate of growth is “shallow” in both large corporates as well as micro-enterprises and SMEs</li>
<li>In essence, we believe that credit quality risks may be moderating going forward, especially in higher risk consumer and in micro-enterprise and SME categories</li>
<li>In addition, the bank system’s generally high provisioning levels relative to delinquency provides a healthy buffer, in our view</li>
<li>Credit spreads ticked lower in April, and are still well below their recent highs of early 2020</li>
<li>We continue to see value in the sector and find <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/banco-do-brasil-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24564:1" rel="noopener">Banco Do Brasil Sa (BBAS3 BZ)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/banco-bradesco-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24569:1" rel="noopener">Banco Bradesco Sa (BBDC4 BZ)</a> attractive</li>
<li>Risks to positive view on these big cap Brazil banks include worse than expected credit quality, weak opex control and erosion of credit spreads</li>
</ul>


Brazil’s credit quality trends to April seem positive, on balance
Compared to March, there appear to be less concerning consumer credit quality and arrears (15-90 days delay) data
Credit quality to corporates shows that  even though credit risks are rising, the rate of growth is “shallow” in both large corporates as well as micro-enterprises and SMEs
In essence, we believe that credit quality risks may be moderating going forward, especially in higher risk consumer and in micro-enterprise and SME categories
In addition, the bank system’s generally high provisioning levels relative to delinquency provides a healthy buffer, in our view
Credit spreads ticked lower in April, and are still well below their recent highs of early 2020
We continue to see value in the sector and find Banco Do Brasil Sa (BBAS3 BZ) and Banco Bradesco Sa (BBDC4 BZ) attractive
Risks to positive view on these big cap Brazil banks include worse than expected credit quality, weak opex control and erosion of credit spreads


Brazil Bank Sector Trends to April in Ten Charts

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/banco-inter-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28162:1" rel="noopener">Banco Inter SA (BIDI11 BZ)</a> is a leading digital bank in Brazil, only second to Nubank in scale and scope, with over 10m clients at the end of March 2021</li>
<li>It is also seeing accelerating loan growth to 1Q21 and broadening its service base deriving fees from its services and shopping platform</li>
<li>Yet, even on comparable FinTech valuations, as well as on the PEG ratio metric, Banco Inter’s market value seems stretched</li>
<li>In addition, given the acceleration in loan growth and the resultant absorption in capital, we see a real risk of a further equity cash call in coming quarters</li>
<li>We explore three scenarios for Banco Inter in this report; in our view, none of these scenarios’ implied returns make Banco Inter stock compelling at current valuations</li>
<li>Banco Inter’s upside risks include better than expected opex control especially on new customer acquisition driving better than expected returns</li>
</ul>



Banco Inter SA (BIDI11 BZ) is a leading digital bank in Brazil, only second to Nubank in scale and scope, with over 10m clients at the end of March 2021
It is also seeing accelerating loan growth to 1Q21 and broadening its service base deriving fees from its services and shopping platform
Yet, even on comparable FinTech valuations, as well as on the PEG ratio metric, Banco Inter’s market value seems stretched
In addition, given the acceleration in loan growth and the resultant absorption in capital, we see a real risk of a further equity cash call in coming quarters
We explore three scenarios for Banco Inter in this report; in our view, none of these scenarios’ implied returns make Banco Inter stock compelling at current valuations
Banco Inter’s upside risks include better than expected opex control especially on new customer acquisition driving better than expected returns


Banco Inter (BIDI11 BZ): Too Much Optimism Built into Valuations

Brazil

Banco Bradesco S.A. attracts deposits and offers commercial banking services. The Bank offers business loans, personal credit, mortgages, lease financing, mutual funds, securities brokerage, and Internet banking services.  Bradesco operates in Brazil and Argentina, the United States, the Cayman Islands, and the United Kingdom.  Bradesco offers credit cards, insurance, and pension funds.

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Banco Bradesco (BBDC4 BZ)

Brazil Banks: Our Picks on Asset Sensitivity and Credit Quality Are Itaú Unibanco & Banco Do Brasil

Itaú Unibanco, the most asset sensitive big-cap Brazil bank, benefits from the BCB's recent monetary tightening, with Banco do Brasil & its sound...

Victor Galliano

EM Banks and Financials – The Rebalancing in Index Weightings from the LatAm Perspective

Potential Russian shares exclusion from indices is real, with Asian EMs set to gain big, but do not disregard LatAm; our preferred financials are...

Victor Galliano

Nubank (NU US) – IPO Done, Now Comes the Hard Part

More than other digital banks, Nubank suffers from a disconnect between size of customer base & loan & deposit balances; also, we estimate that...

Victor Galliano

Brazil Bank Sector Trends to April in Ten Charts

April credit quality data is better than March, the bank system has good NPL coverage & the debt servicing burden is declining with falling lending...

Victor Galliano

Banco Inter (BIDI11 BZ): Too Much Optimism Built into Valuations

Banco Inter, as a leading Brazilian digital challenger bank, is growing fast. Yet our 3 scenarios show that premium growth does not mean premium...

Victor Galliano

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