UNITI and regional banks. I have a different view as regards regional banks that are run by, and seem to be focused on, Asian-Americans. It's my opinion these banks customers' businesses are located in areas in places like Koreatown or Chinatown or in areas where these companies maintain offices/warehouses. Further, something about these customers - they're business people or homeowners with strong ties to their asian communities -- there's quite a bit of shame if they default on their loans (my impression- apologies if I seem too stereotypical in my view). Whether or not interest rates rise, or whether real estate is overvalued in malls or with big national businesses, that is not a concern to me as regards this particular subset of regional banks. There is something that seems valuable to me for customers who deal with asian-american banks being staffed and managed by the asian-americans who can speak and relate to customers who are first generation asian-american business owners or business people. Betting this way has worked out satisfactorily for me in past with Chinese-American banks and with Korean-American banks (for the few stocks I was able to be patient with).
However, that's the past. Korea and China banks have got wise to the large population and market that Asian-Americans represent, and many, if not most or all, of the big banks have opened branches here in the USA where Koreans and Chinese have congregated. Woori American (from Korea), for example, is here, and Hamni (originally just in LA, I believe, but now national) are competitors in this Korean-American market. Also, the consolidation in the market (several small publicly-traded Chinese-Amercan focused banks), seems to be mostly over.
What I don't like about UNITI is that the return on assets is below 1%, and I can't find more than a few years of public history as regards the company. Still, it's likely this bank can grow, if it can keep the loyalty of its customers as these customers grow their businesses.
jmo |
