MS expects banks' mid-term earnings to benefit from loan growth

Dnb Bank ASA

02/09/2026 13:24

** Mid-term 'earnings picture' for European banks stays positive amid loan growth and resilient investments in manufacturing, Morgan Stanley says
** Corporate lending acceleration in Q2 shows investment broadens beyond AI, infrastructure to manufacturing, and even real estate among others, it says
** MS expects the branching out loan growth to stay healthy for several years; sees strongest rise in Britain, Netherlands and Greece, with potential acceleration in Germany
** The broker ups ING and NatWest to "overweight" from "equal-weight", citing the former's potential to be "high-teens" ROTE bank and the latter's positioning in corporate loans
** It also ups to "equal-weight" Swedbank, on better new mortgage business market share, and DNB on sector-aligned risk-reward profile
** It cuts to "equal-weight" Barclays, on lower-than-expected operating leverage, and Nordea on valuation in line with peers
     
COMPANY
RATING
OLD RATING
PT
ING INGA.AS 
Overweight
Equal-weight
€37.00
NatWest NWG.L 
Overweight
Equal-weight
850p
Barclays BARC.L 
Equal-weight
Overweight
580p
Swedbank SWEDa.ST 
Equal-weight
Underweight
SEK 386
DNB DNB.OL 
Equal-weight
Underweight
NOK 330
Nordea NDAFI.HE 
Equal-weight
Overweight
€19.00
UniCredit CRDI.MI
(top pick)
Overweight
no change
€105.00
Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE 
(top pick)
Overweight
no change
€38.50
Santander SAN.MC
(top pick)
Overweight
no change
€14.70
ABN Amro ABNd.AS
(top pick)
Overweight
no change
€48.00
        

(Reporting by Emmanuelle Serres and Mateusz Rabiega)
((Emmanuelle.Serres@thomsonreuters.com; Mateusz.Rabiega@thomsonreuters.com))