Shares in National Australia Bank (NAB) have recovered best in three months since the market crash, despite group chief executive Ross McEwan warning banking will be less profitable sector in the short-term.
Looking at the performance of the big four banks over the three months since the crash on 23 March, NAB had returned 37% while ANZ had returned 34%.
Both of these companies beat the return by the ASX 200 over the same period which was 31%.
Rival Westpac returned 28% and Commonwealth Bank returned 27%.
Earlier this week, NAB group chief executive Ross McEwan said he expected banking would be less profitable in the short-term as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which would be a negative for income investors relying on the dividends.
The sector was also highlighted by analysts as one at risk of dividend cuts in the future, particularly those smaller banks with thinner margins.
Share price performance of big four banks versus ASX 200 from 23 March to 23 June 2020
Looking at performance since the start of the year to 23 June, however, all companies had reported losses and all had underperformed the ASX 200 which lost 9%.
In a reversal of the quarterly rankings, Commonwealth Bank was the best-performing bank since the start of the year with losses of 11% while the worst performance was seen for Westpac which lost 25%. NAB and ANZ both lost 22% over the period.
Commonwealth Bank was the least-affected bank in the crash with overall losses of 38% compared losses of more than 43% by the other three firms.
Share price performance of big four banks versus ASX 200 since start of year to 23 June 2020
