Casa, a four-letter word that bankers love

Casa is also changing its profile as it is no longer low-cost money but it balances the asset-liability gaps and lowers banks' capital requirement

The earnings season is in full swing and the analysts are keeping a close watch on a few metrics in banks’ balance sheets. Indeed, for most banks, the net interest income has been rising, backed by credit growth; and bad loans, as a percentage of the loan book, are coming down. That’s a good story. The not-so-good story is the drop in current and savings account (Casa) and, consequently, net interest margin (NIM).

The raw material for a banking business is the money savers keep with a bank in the form of deposits. The challenge before all banks is to keep