Five OTC-Foreign Bank Stocks

Posted by David Hunkar on 26 August 2010, 3:47 pm

On August 23rd, the British-banking giant HSBC Holdings (HBC) bid for Nedbank(OTC: NDBKY), South Africa’s fourth largest bank. HSBC is trying to buy the majority stake held in Nedbank by Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual. The deal potentially valued at $6.8B would give HSBC a 70% stake in Nedbank and offer the bank a strong presence in Africa’s largest economy.

With talks of a double-dip recession in the US economy and many Western banks still suffering from effects of the financial crisis,investors looking to gain exposure to international banks may consider the following emerging market bank stocks that are traded on the OTC markets in the US. Please note that these stocks are sponsored ADRs and have very light daily trading volumes.

1.Istanbul, Turkey-based Akbank (OTC: AKBTY) is Turkey’s most valuable bank based on market capitalization with 877 branches and assets of over $69B at the end of 2009. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 21% at the end of last year andÂ Euromoney magazine selected Akbank as the “Best Bank in Turkey”. The current dividend yield of the ADR is 1.49% and the stock is up over 10% YTD.

2. Commercial International Bank (OTC: CIBEY) is the largest private sector bank in Egpyt based on loans. Last year the bank was ranked the best bank in Egypt by Euromoney, Global Finance and The Banker magazines. CIBEY is up over 29% YTD and the current yield is 2.02%.

3. Johannesburg, South Africa-based NedBank (OTC: NDBKY) is one of the largest banks in South Africa. The bank has the second largest deposit base from retail customers. The stock pays a dividend of 3.03% and the price has grown by about 13% YTD.

4.Turkiye Garanti Bankasi (OTC: TKGBY) is Turkey’s second largest private bank with an asset base of $78B at the end of 2009. Garanti has about 9 million customers and 792 branches. The current dividend yield on the ADR is 1.01% and the stock is trading under $5.

5. Czech-republic based Komercni Banka (OTC: KMBNY) is part of France’s Societe Generale(OTC: SCGLY) group. Komercni has operations in Central and Eastern Europe as well. Societe Generale holds 60.35% of the bank. Komercni has 1.62 million customers and 398 branches. As of second quarter this year, the capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.7% and Tier 1 capital ratio was 13.5%. The ADR pays a 4.38% dividend.

Ten Components of the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index

Posted by David Hunkar on 25 August 2010, 3:53 pm

The S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index consists of Canadian energy sector stocks that are listed on the TSX. The iShares S&P/TSX Capped Energy ETF (XEG.TO) tracks the performance of this index. The top 10 components of this fund are listed below together with their ticker in the US markets and the current dividend yield:

1 .Suncor Energy Inc (SU)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.26%

2. Canadian National Resources (CNQ)
Current Dividend Yield: 0.92%

3. Encana Corp (ECA)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.01%

4. Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.04%

5. Talisman Energy Inc (TLM)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.50%

6. Canadian Oil Sands Trust (OTC: COSWF)
Current Dividend Yield: 8.16%

7. Nexen Inc (NXY)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.07%

8. Imperial Oil (IMO)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.15%

9. Penn West Energy Trust (PWE)
Current Dividend Yield: 8.85%

10. Crescent Point Energy Corp
Current Dividend Yield: N/A

Chart: Comparing Personal Disposable Income Among BRIICS

Posted by David Hunkar on 25 August 2010, 10:38 am

Last week, China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. While this was a major news in the global media, it was a non-event in China. China is still considered as a poor country.The per capita GDP of China was $6,675 last year compared to $32,443 for Japan.

In terms of per capita annual personal disposable income, among the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa), Russia ranks the highest as the chart shows below:

Source: Euromonitor International

Brazil ranks the second with a per capita annual personal disposable income of capita $5,141 in 2009 compared to $5,324 of Russia. For many years India and Indonesia have had the lowest per capita annual disposable incomes.

Consumer spending is a major factor in the BRIICS countries. However it varies widely between some countries. For example, private consumption accounted for 62% of the GDP in Brazil in 2009 compared to just 34.7% in China.