Canada Banks Exit Pandemic Year With Profit Growth in Reach
- Shrinking provisions, strong capital markets may help earnings
- Cost controls will be key with revenue growth still muted
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Canada’s largest banks are within striking distance of resuming profit growth -- with the help of government programs that prevented major loan losses.
The country’s six biggest banks are expected to post an 11% average decline in adjusted earnings per share when they report fiscal first-quarter results next week, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The comparable quarter a year earlier was the last one before Covid-19 hit. But if actual results beat projections at the same rate they did in the fourth quarter, the banks would eke out a 3.4% profit gain.