Weighing up Australia’s banks
Bad debts and expected capital raising from three of the big four cloud the outlook for Aussie banks, says Morningstar's Nathan Zaia.
Nathan Zaia: We took a look at, okay, what are we assuming in our base case for bad debt, what are we assuming in our bear case for bad debt. Those are the two real key variables at the moment. And we thought if we looked at, okay, what's happened in the past GFC level loan losses was our base case bad enough and we thought it probably was. So, as we increased how bad the impact on loan losses would be in our downfall scenario, in that scenario we also assume that the banks need to raise even more equity, then that also – it's all probability weighted. So, then, our base case probably looked a bit light on versus our bear case. So, that's what prompted us to lift our loan loss assumptions in our base case. So, they went up from about 30 basis points to 50 basis points for the next couple of years. And in that scenario where we assume dividends are still paid even though materially reduced, we assumed ANZ, NAB and Westpac all need to raise about $3.5 billion to $4 billion each. CBA, a bit of an ally, already in a strong capital position. So, we think they can get through paying the dividends and not raising capital.
So, that's sort of what drove the change in our fair value estimate as well putting those numbers into our base case. And then, when you look at the spread between your downside scenario fair value and then the fair value in our more bullish scenario, that also got wider. So, that's what influenced us to – or drove the increase in our uncertainty ratings from medium to high. So, those two things kind of working or went together in those changes. I think market is really focused on, okay, what's the earnings profile looks like for the short term. These banks aren't even paying dividends. But from our point of view, we've factored in really big losses over the next three years. So, cumulatively, across the major banks we expect loan losses of about $37 billion. Those (indiscernible) still make $63 billion profit across them over the three years. So, those (indiscernible) in no means on their knee.
So, we think when you look past these next two to three years, you got to question, okay, what would the loan balances look like, what would margins look like, what should bad debt sort of revert to over the (expenditures) of their growth loan. And that's what we're trying to do with our fair value estimates. So, we expect some pretty hefty pain to be felt in the next couple of years. But looking forward, we think these banks, their funding cost advantages, their scale advantages, they are going to see them get through this and be making decent returns on equity out three, four, five years' time. So, that's why we've still maintained our wide moat rating as well.