Yin He Zheng Quan·2025-07-21 09:38Investment Rating - The report maintains a "Recommended" rating for the banking sector, highlighting its investment value and potential for performance improvement [36]. Core Insights - The banking sector is experiencing a marginal recovery in credit growth, with government bonds continuing to be a major contributor to social financing growth. The central bank's recent operations are expected to maintain a moderately loose monetary policy, improving banks' funding costs. Urban renewal initiatives present opportunities for credit expansion and asset quality improvement for banks [36]. Summary by Sections Latest Research Insights - In June, social financing (社融) increased by 4.2 trillion yuan, exceeding expectations, with a year-on-year increase of 900.8 billion yuan. The total social financing stock grew by 8.9% year-on-year, with a month-on-month increase of approximately 0.2 percentage points [6][7]. - The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced a record 14 trillion yuan in reverse repos on July 15, 2025, aimed at releasing liquidity and improving banks' funding costs [8][9]. Market Performance - The banking sector underperformed the market, with a decline of 1.03% compared to a 1.09% increase in the CSI 300 index. The price-to-book (PB) ratio for the banking sector is currently 0.75, with a dividend yield of 4.06% [4][27]. Investment Recommendations - The report suggests that the banking sector's fundamentals are accumulating positive factors, indicating a potential turning point in performance. It recommends specific banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398), Agricultural Bank of China (601288), and others, as attractive investment opportunities [36][37].