City Union Bank posts 15% rise in Q4 net, but misses annual growth target

Bank cites slowdown in third quarter for inability to meet yearly growth goal of 15-18%

City Union Bank has posted a 15 per cent growth in net profit during the quarter ended March 31, 2017, at Rs 128.87 crore. The net profit during the same quarter previous year was Rs 112.23 crore. Its annual growth target was impacted due to slow systemic growth and the focus on managing cash in the third quarter of the fiscal year, said senior management officials.

The bank's total income grew 7.2 per cent to Rs 925.75 crore during the quarter ended March, 2017, from Rs 863.51 crore a year ago.

Both, the fourth quarter and the financial year were fairly stable and the bank is satisfied with its performance, said N Kamakodi, MD and CEO of City Union Bank. However, while it has planned to grow between 15-18 per cent during the fiscal year, it could not achieve the target owing to the decline in growth during the third quarter.

"We planned to grow between 15-18 per cent in the last fiscal year, and in fact we have achieved about 16 per cent growth for September. But there was a setback in the third quarter, which we were able to make up in the fourth quarter," he said. The Bank has recovered from the effects of demonetisation in the fourth quarter.

"The overall systemic growth was in single digits. In the third quarter there was a degrowth, the entire machinery was concentrating on managing the cash and not on growth. We were able to get better in the fourth quarter and finally things are better," he added. The Bank has set a target of 15-18 per cent for this fiscal year also.

The bank has achieved 13 per cent growth in the credit, which was translated into profit. The total business increased by 12 per cent to Rs 54,228 crore during the year, compared to Rs 48,411 crore during the previous year.

In terms of NPA and slippages, the bank has been bringing down the slippages and improving its recovery in the recent past. The gross NPA stood at Rs 681.98 crore (2.83 per cent of gross advances) during the quarter as compared to Rs 511.98 crore (2.41 per cent) in the same quarter an year ago. Net NPA was at Rs 408.34 crore (1.71 per cent) during the period as gainst Rs 323.15 crore (1.53 per cent) an year ago.

It is planning to introduce CUB-Lakshmi, a humanoid robot that it launched in one of the Chennai branches last year, to three more branches. Besides, it has also launched a chat bot, Ask Lakshmi, in its website; a tracker to provide the details of the financial transactions of the customer with future prospects of adding a budget planner, both using artificial intelligence; and an Aadhaar-based online account opening facility CUB Easy, enabling opening of savings bank account online through a mobile application.

The bank is adequately capitalised and though it may go for an enabling resolution to gain approval from the shareholders for fund raising, it do not have any immediate plans to raise funds, said Kamakodi.