My 2c on Financials: US Financials Sector Specialist Commentary Banks • Insurance • Diversified Financials

Research evidence excerpt

My 2c on Financials: US Financials Sector Specialist Commentary Banks • Insurance • Diversified Financials

Rob O'Dwyer - Specialist Sales - US Financials AC North America Specialist Sales J P M O R G A Nrob.odwyer@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC 23 July 2026

My 2c on Financials

Rob O’Dwyer

+1 2126222673

rob.odwyer@jpmorgan.com

Key Highlights

• Banks - HBAN / FCNCA / VLY

• Cap Mkts - NDAQ / BX / RJF

• Card Network Previews

Morning – a busy tape with generally constructive fundamentals. Regional bank reads were mostly encouraging from a

PPNR perspective, with fee income doing the heavy lifting (HBAN and FCNCA both nudging outlooks higher). VLY's

CRE-driven reserve build is a reminder that investors can't get complacent on credit and that not all balance sheets are

created equal.

Capital markets momentum remains a meaningful organic growth tailwind, most evident at NDAQ where FinTech (+15%

organic) and Verafin (+22%) acceleration should reassure bulls. It really ought to be a good day for NDAQ, these shares

really don’t reflect how impressive the performace is at this business, in my opinion.

BX beat on FRE, but base management fee weakness and continued RE underperformance leave plenty for bears to

discuss. That said, realization trends and fundraising should dominate the near-term conversation, reinforcing the view

that 2H26 will be a more supportive backdrop for alts. As regular readers know, I'm not an alt bear, but I'm not convinced

BX will be the best way to express improving fundamentals into year-end. The valuation case also looks less compelling

when BLK is arguably offering better growth at a materially lower multiple (and was recently upgraded to OW by Mike

Cho).