ICICI Bank sells Rs 2000 crore corporate assets in Q1

ICICI Bank has sold corporate and retail assets of around Rs 2,000 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal even as it is on the lookout for taking over of corporate assets from other banks and institutions. This move is in keeping with the bank's business model of churning its assets.

ICICI Bank has bought assets of around Rs 200-300 crore from the market last year. "We are looking at taking over both fund and non-fund based assets like letter of credits and guarantees. However most of the assets which we have bought are corporate assets," says ICICI Bank's general manager Vishakha Mulye.

"We are looking at buying both corporate and retail assets," she added.

The bank has in the last one and half years been buying small tranches of retail assets of around Rs 20-25 crore. Most of these assets are auto loans which have been bought over from banks and non-banking finance companies.

The bank had sold around Rs 6,000 crore of assets in the last fiscal which included around Rs 400 crore of retail assets. On the retail assets the bank has been securitising personal loans portfolio, auto loans portfolio other than home loans.

"We are also looking at securitising credit card receivables this year," Mulye added. The bank has already sold around Rs 200 crore of mortgage backed securities in the first quarter and around another Rs 500 crore is in the anvil.

"Nationalised banks are willing to invest in MBF paper now. The credit enhancement on these sort of securities are in the form of cash collateral or subordinate tranches," said Mulye.

The corporate assets have been picked up by mutual funds, insurance companies, nationalised banks and private sector banks. "Mutual funds have become one of the biggest investors in these assets," she added. The corporate assets which had been sold ranged from AAA to A+.