NIM Recovery Supports Sustained Earnings Growth
发布时间:2026-09-04 来源:华泰证券
For 1H26, Bank of Hangzhou's attributable NP, operating income and PPOP increased by 9.9%, 4.7% and 6.4% YoY, respectively, with their growth rates changing by -0.2pp, +0.5pp and -0.1pp from 1Q26. Earnings maintained relatively rapid growth. Annualized ROA and ROE declined by 0.01pp and 1.26pp YoY to 1.06% and 17.74%, respectively. The Bank proposed a 2026 interim cash dividend of RMB4.60 per 10 shares, tax inclusive, totaling approximately RMB3.34bn and representing 26.0% of 1H26 attributable NP. Key highlights include the NIM recovery driven by significantly lower funding costs, continued strong fee income growth and broadly stable asset quality. Maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Lower deposit costs support NIM recovery
At end-June, total assets, loans and deposits increased by 10.4%, 15.1% and 11.7% YoY, respectively. Their growth rates changed by +0.8pp, -0.7pp and -0.8pp from 1Q26, indicating a broadly stable pace of balance-sheet expansion. New loans totaled RMB90.4bn in 1H26, with retail loans, corporate loans and discounted bills accounting for -20.3%, 80.5%, and 39.7% of the increase, respectively. Corporate lending was the main driver, while low-yield discounted bills increased temporarily. Net interest income rose by 19.2% YoY, although growth slowed by 1.5pp from 1Q26. Supported by both volume and pricing, it remained the core driver of operating income growth. The NIM reached 1.39% in 1H26, up by 3bp from 2025. The yield on interest-earning assets and loan yield declined by 26bp and 27bp from 2025 to 2.85% and 3.38%, respectively. The cost of interest-bearing liabilities and deposit cost also fell by 26bp and 27bp to 1.49% and 1.40%, respectively, allowing lower funding costs to broadly offset asset-yield compression. Demand deposits accounted for 39.7% of total deposits at end-June, down by 2.3pp QoQ, indicating a continued shift toward time deposits.
Asset quality remains sound despite pressured retail risk
The NPL ratio remained low at 0.76% at end-June, marking the 14th consecutive quarter at a low level. The provision coverage ratio declined by 9.4pp from end-March to 472%, reflecting lower provisioning, with credit impairment losses down 49.3% YoY in 1H26, and a higher NPL balance. Risk-absorption capacity nevertheless remained strong. Corporate asset quality continued to improve, with the corporate loan NPL ratio declining by 5bp from the beginning of the year to 0.53%. Retail asset quality came under near-term pressure, with the retail loan NPL ratio rising by 27bp from the beginning of the year to 1.48%. The increase mainly reflected risk exposure in personal business and residential mortgage loans, whose NPL ratios rose by 56bp and 24bp, respectively. The Bank reduced its internet loan balance by 15.7% from the beginning of the year, continuing to lower the associated risk exposure. Forward-looking indicators fluctuated slightly, with the special-mention loan ratio rising by 2bp from end-March to 0.49%. At end-June, the CAR and CET1 CAR were 13.99% and 9.52%, respectively, down by 15bp and 4bp from 1Q26. Capital remained adequate.
Set 2026E target PB at 0.99x
Given that the asset-yield benchmark is likely to decline further amid a medium- to long-term low-interest-rate environment, we forecast attributable NP of RMB20.82bn/RMB22.99bn/RMB25.50bn for 2026/2027/2028, reductions of 1.3%/1.7%/1.8% from our previous estimates. We forecast 2026E BVPS of RMB20.55, versus RMB20.59 previously, implying 0.82x 2026E PB. Comparable banks trade at an average of 0.74x 2026E PB on Wind consensus, versus 0.69x previously. Given the Bank’s superior profitability and asset quality versus its peers and the additional shareholder returns from its interim dividend, we assign 0.99x 2026E PB, versus 1.00x previously, and derive our target price of RMB20.34 (previously RMB20.59). Maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Risks: slower-than-expected asset quality recovery, weaker-than-expected earnings improvement.