Drag from fee cut in short term
- GF’s fee income slightly outperformed peers in 2023 thanks to its limited investment banking exposure (9M23 fees -10% y-o-y)
- It is however most impacted by public fund fee cut impemented in 2H23, dragging its FY24F earnings outlook; our analysis suggests -1.1% impact on FY23F ROE
- Cut FY23E/24F earnings by 25%/49% on weaker-than-expected market sentiment and margin compression from fee cuts
- Maintain BUY on GF-H with lower HK$10 TP to reflect the earnings drag; up