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 31 July 2026

The more important takeaway is that deposit cost risk is beginning to re-enter the conversation. Loan growth remains healthy,

average loans grew 9% annualized in 2Q versus 5% annualizeddeposit growth, and management teams were increasingly

focused on intensifying competition for deposits. With the forward curve now implying additional Fed tightening over the next

several quarters, investors are becoming more sensitive to which banks may need to pay up for funding.

Management commentary suggested banks combining strong loan growth with below-peer deposit costs, including names like

Zions and First Horizon, are most exposed to upward pressure on deposit pricing. Credit remains stable and core operating

trends are healthy, but the combination of funding pressure, inflation concerns and geopolitical uncertainty likely caps upside for

the group near term despite otherwise solid fundamentals. Full note here

FICO / Credit Bureaus (Steinerman et al.)

Two notes this morning: (1) Monthly GSE Dataand (2) VantageScore lunch takeaways

On the GSE data, VantageScore saw significant acceleration in July, with mortgage dollar volume growing more than 4x MoM

and loans furnished to the GSEs growing more than 5x MoM. FICO still accounts for roughly 95% of mortgage volume by

dollar amount, down from approximately99% in June.

Separately, EFX disclosed approximately 10,000 VantageScore-only mortgage transactions in 2Q26, representing only about

0.5%of all VantageScore mortgage pulls.