Report
Daniel Tabbush

China Banks - No corporate deleveraging, with high debt growth at weakest companies

It is a myth that China corporates are deleveraging. There is no indication of this from company data or from bank data. Rather, corporates are re-leveraging. Over the latest full year, total debt of China’s non-financial companies rose dramatically, by US$431 billion. This change is higher than any year in the past five and at 19% growth YoY, it far surpassed the previous three years. Our corporate data shows most growth was with the most distressed companies, those with debt/ebitda at >7x. This makes it important to understand that large banks are giving up corporate loan share, while small banks are gaining corporate loan market share. Still, medium-sized banks will not be immune. There are additional disconcerting implications from aggressive funding.

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Tabbush Report
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.

Daniel Tabbush has been highly ranked by Asiamoney, Bloomberg and The Asset for his Asian bank analysis, which began more than 20 years ago, and making him the longest standing Head of Asian Bank research in Asia. Tabbush made his name analyzing banks in Thailand, highlighting bad loan risks for Thai banks before and after the Thai Financial Crisis of 1997.

He is known for extolling the unusual positives of Japan’s mega banks in 2005, and the risks likely to hit HSBC from its U.S. subprime loan operations, in 2006. More recently, when most were concerned with nearly all Western banks in late 2008, Tabbush highlighted the positive outlook for Standard Chartered Bank at that time.

He was Head of Asian Bank research for 10 years at the top rated CLSA, overseeing 10 analysts in Asia and coverage of approximately 80 banks. In this role, he spearheaded bank coverage in Japan and Australia. Tabbush was also responsible for research of HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to this role, he was the Managing Director of CLSA Securities (Thailand) and its Head of Research. Daniel began his stock-broking career in Thailand in 1993 at Swiss Bank Corp, where his focus was on Thai Banks, after which he joined CLSA in 1996. Daniel grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from University of California, San Diego in Economics, cum laude and with Phi Beta Kappa honors. He lives with his wife and kids in Bangkok and he enjoys running, cooking and playing chess.

Since leaving the stock broking industry in 2012, he has run his Tabbush Report research and consultancy business.


Analysts
Daniel Tabbush

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