Union Bank of India posts Q3 loss,asset quality weakens but NII grows 19%

Public sector lender Union Bank ofIndia disappointed Street on Saturday as it posted net loss of Rs 1,250 crore for December quarter against profit of Rs 104 crore in previous year.

Profit included investment depreciation of Rs 700 crore & Rs 991 crore of additional provision for 18 accounts referred to National Company Law Tribunal, as per RBI list-II, the bank said.

It has provided entire amount of additional provision for NCLT accounts upfront which was to be spread till March 2018. Lower other income & operating income, tax reversal and higher provisions dented profitability, but good growth in net interest income restricted losses.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 19.3 percent to Rs 2,548.3 crore compared to Rs 2,136.6 crore in same quarter last year due to growth in net interest margin and loans.

The bank said global loan growth was 13.5 percent YoY at Rs 3,14,474 crore, with domestic advances growing 12.5 percent at Rs 2,81,028 crore as on December 31, 2017.

Total deposit of the bank grew by 4.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,98,518 crore, with CASA deposits growth of 4.6 percent, it added.

Global net interest margin improved 15 basis points sequentially and 22 bps YoY to 2.23 percent in Q3 while domestic net interest margin improved to 2.34 percent, from 2.19 percent in previous quarter and 2.04 percent a year ago.

Asset quality deteriorated in the quarter gone by. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were lower at 13.03 percent in Q3 (from 12.35 percent in previous quarter) and net NPAs were at 6.96 percent (against 6.7 percent).

In absolute terms, gross NPAs fell 7 percent sequentially to Rs 40,988.4 crore and net NPAs declined 5 percent to Rs 20,428.2 crore compared to previous quarter.Slippages at the end of December quarter were higher at Rs 4,187 crore, compared to Rs 2,686 crore as of September quarter.

Provisions for bad loans during the quarter increased sharply by 59.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,521 crore, but declined 27.2 percent sequentially. Provision coverage ratio stood at 57.12 percent as of December 2017, improved from 50.62 percent in year-ago and 56.06 percent in previous quarter, the bank said.

Union Bank further said taking into account its provisioning divergence, net profit of Rs 555 crore reported earlier for FY17 now became a loss of Rs 373 crore.Gross NPA divergence stood at Rs 2,850 crore, net NPA at Rs 1,835 crore and divergence in provisioning at Rs 1,014 crore as of March 31, 2017.

Other income (non-interest income) slipped 34.8 percent to Rs 873.11 crore and operating profit declined 10.6 percent to Rs 1,654.6 crore compared to year-ago.The bank saw tax reversal of Rs 350 crore for the quarter against tax expenses of Rs 77.14 crore in same quarter last year.