Guotou Securities: August social financing growth slows again; focus on the effect of fiscal efforts in supporting subsequent loans.

Guotou Securities released a research report stating that in August, the year-on-year growth rate of social financing was 7.2%, down 0.2 percentage points month-on-month, with a monthly increment of 1.66 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 908.3 billion yuan, below market expectations; broad-caliber RMB loans grew 4.9% year-on-year, with new RMB loans of 60 billion yuan, a sharp year-on-year decrease of 530 billion yuan. Currently, the improvement in banks' income statements is being transmitted to balance sheet repair, the implementation of new regulations on insurance asset-liability management brings demand for deterministic dividend asset allocation, and the interim dividend payout ratio of major banks for 2026 has achieved a breakthrough increase. The bank is optimistic about the absolute and excess returns of the sector going forward.