European Banks Daily

Research evidence excerpt

European Banks Daily

Kian Abouhossein AC Europe Equity Research

(44-20) 7134-4575 03 August 2026 J P M O R G A N

kian.abouhossein@jpmorgan.com

the outperformance that regional banks have logged YTD heading into earnings season

combined with (2) “just enough” earnings and outlooks that were sufficient to maintain the

outperformance YTD rather than drive any additional outperformance. Beyond earnings, we

continue to take a cautious approach on the sector tied to our view that deposit cost competition,

which has been the number one area of investor focus, will intensify from already elevated levels

as (1) loan growth trends remain solid per recent management commentary with little to suggest

a slowdown in 2H26, while (2) the forward curve calls for a couple of rate hikes over the next

few quarters. We note that while we were cautious on the sector heading into earnings tied to our

aforementioned thoughts on deposit cost competition, the quarter played out pretty much as we

had expected as it related to this area of focus. More specifically, we thought the messaging from

management aligned with the regional banks that we saw as being most at risk of seeing deposit

costs move higher in the coming quarters—including Zions and First Horizon—with banks

including Valley sitting on the other side of the spectrum and SouthState surprising us to the

upside in terms of not seeing as intense deposit competition as we had thought.

Forbright, Inc.:2Q26: Solid All-Around Quarter Highlighted By Strong Loan Growth But

Lack Of N-T Catalysts Keeps Us At N

Anthony Elian, CFA (1-212) 622-5067

Forbright’s 2Q26 core EPS of $0.20 (our estimate) came in handily above consensus of $0.12

with this quarter marking the first as a public company following the IPO that was completed in

mid-June.