CITIC Securities: The revenue and profit growth of listed banks in the first quarter continued to rise, and it is expected to continue throughout the year.

The report from CITIC Securities pointed out that looking back at the first quarter of 2026, the banking sector experienced a significant decline in January due to large outflows of passive funds, but has shown positive performance since March due to the rise in market risk aversion sentiment caused by the US-Iran conflict. In terms of institutional strategies, the proportion of bank stocks held by actively managed funds has slightly increased from the previous quarter, rising by 0.13 percentage points to 1.71%. Stock selection strategies have been adjusted to include undervalued and high-performance varieties that are suitable for public fund preferences. The proportion of northbound funds holding bank stocks continued to decline, while southbound funds maintained a positive sector allocation strategy. According to the disclosed first quarter reports, the income and profit growth of listed banks in the first quarter continued to rise, with growth in net interest income driving revenue improvement. Asset quality indicators also remained stable. It is expected that this trend will continue throughout the year, helping to increase investor willingness to allocate funds to the sector, with a positive outlook for absolute returns for the full year.