Investment Rating - The report maintains a "Positive" investment rating for the banking sector as of October 23, 2025 [6]. Core Insights - The external environment's uncertainty has increased, leading to a temporary decline in market risk appetite. However, the report is optimistic about the relative performance of the banking sector in Q4 2025 [3]. - The report identifies two main investment themes: the ongoing demand for financial investments and the motivation behind realizing unrealized gains in bank assets [4][9]. Summary by Sections 1. Investment Assets Driving Bank Expansion - Financial investment growth has accelerated to 15%, with significant performance differentiation across sectors. In H1 2025, financial investments were the core driver of asset expansion, with a year-on-year growth of 14.9% [14]. - The structure of financial investments shows that interest-bearing bonds continue to dominate, with their proportion increasing to 60.2% by mid-2025. The growth rates for state-owned banks and city commercial banks were 8% and 11%, respectively [16]. 2. Changes in How Banks Smooth Earnings Volatility - Banks are increasingly shifting from using the income statement to the balance sheet to smooth earnings volatility. The report highlights that the contribution of investment income, particularly from the amortized cost (AC) assets, has been rising significantly [9][10]. - The unrealized gains in the Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) account were estimated at CNY 438.4 billion, representing 7.8% of annual revenue as of H1 2025 [9]. 3. Motivation for Realizing Unrealized Gains - Smaller banks exhibit a stronger motivation to realize unrealized gains compared to larger banks, which need to balance performance and interest rate risk management (IRRBB) assessments [9]. - The report anticipates continued demand for realizing unrealized gains in Q3 2025, although the intensity may weaken compared to mid-year [9][10]. 4. Investment Recommendations - The report recommends focusing on fundamentally strong small and medium-sized banks, such as Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank (601077, Buy) and Nanjing Bank (601009, Buy) [9]. - For state-owned banks with solid fundamentals and defensive value, the report mentions Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398, Not Rated) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288, Not Rated) as potential investment targets [9].