UK banks are still in favour with UK bank Citi after the latest chunk of Bank of England mortgage data.
Indeed, the only negative Citi can find is an uptick in the deposit-mix shift, but even here there is lower than last year it says and deposit activity overall is stable.
Plusses meanwhile include the highest number of mortgage approvals since Liz Truss’s heyday in September 2022, mortgage margin expansion ans house price growth and volumes accelerating.
“With volumes improving, mortgage margin headwinds easing, and strong structural hedge support the top-line outlook looks increasingly positive,” said the bank.
Overweight UK banks is the sector view, with the rank order HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) (Buy) followed by NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) (Buy), Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) (Buy), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) (Neutral) and Standard Chartered (Neutral).