Guotai Haitong: New opportunities emerge in fintech investment; focus on core companies benefiting in three sub-sectors.

Guotai Haitong released a research report stating that Agents are penetrating various industries and gradually becoming real-world Infra, driving the fintech industry toward a new intelligent stage with broad growth space. Fintech investment is ushering in new opportunities, and core companies benefiting in each sub-sector are recommended: 1) Bullish on the business system upgrade demand brought by the large-scale deployment of Agents in financial IT, the quality and efficiency improvement brought by deep empowerment of large models; in addition, active market trading has increased the urgency of securities firm IT system upgrades. 2) Bullish on the development prospects of intelligent investment research and intelligent investment advisory in the financial information services industry, providing differentiated and intelligent information services to better meet investors' information needs. 3) Bullish on agent payments driving payment services to leap from a channel-based model to an intelligent operation-based model. Guotai Haitong's main views are as follows: 2026/10/122026/10/23, the fintech index rose 1.66%, while the CSI 300 fell 4.91% over the same period; the Hong Kong fintech index fell 4.93%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 7.77% over the same period. Looking ahead, financial AI applications are accelerating deployment, financial scenarios have strong payment capacity and high data density, and we remain bullish on AI applications in the financial sector. Financial AI applications and governance are advancing in parallel, and payment infrastructure construction continues to improve. In financial IT, the Shanghai Futures Exchange plans to refine program trading management rules, the FSB improves the financial AI governance framework, and procurement for financial AI platform construction is advancing; in financial information services, CICC Wealth Management released "AI Smart Investment 50," bank wealth management scale grew, and public fund allocation ratios increased; in third-party payments, Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC completed technical verification of agent micropayments, Visa's domestic clearing institution preparation was approved, and the DIGIHUMAN RMB system and smart contract ecosystem framework were further improved. In overseas AI frontiers, FIS's anti-money laundering investigation agent opened for commercial sales, Claude Duet opened research preview waitlist applications, Today AI disclosed cumulative financing of over US$200 million, and financial compliance and personal assistant applications continued to advance. Individual stock AI products continue to iterate, and cross-border layout and industrial investment are advancing in an orderly manner. Individual stock news: East Money Information's Miaoxiang Work and Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network's Wencai Work were upgraded, promoting the connection of financial data, analysis tools, and task execution; Hundsun Technologies Inc. launched investment advisory and investment data analysis Skills, expanding service entry points beyond terminals; LIANLIAN implemented a localized acquiring solution in Hong Kong, China, serving brands going global. Individual stock announcements: Lakala Payment plans to acquire a controlling stake in Gaofu Information to expand its cross-border payment network and customer coverage; LIANLIAN subscribed RMB 200 million to participate in an industrial fund, laying out in semiconductors, AI, and advanced manufacturing; Bohai Leasing completed approximately RMB 200 million in share repurchases, while also monitoring the review progress of Lianlian Yintong's payment license renewal. Risk warnings: AI model application risks; Agent execution non-compliance risks; market volatility risks.