Canadian banks are proving that our financial system is the best in the world, as stated by the World Economic Forum in October. This week the Canadian major banks release their first quarter earnings for 2009, and most exceeded industry expectations. More impressive, however is they are remarkably better than their counterparts in the US and Europe.
The Royal Bank posted first quarter earnings of $1.05 billion, Toronto-Dominion Bank showed profits of $712 million, however as a sign of the times both of these banks profits were down by more than 15% from the first quarter of last year. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada’s fifth largest bank only earned $147 million profit, however they have had to write-off an additional $708 million in losses as they are shutting down their US credit portfolio. However, it wasn’t all bad news for CIBC as one year ago they posted losses of close to $1.5 billion.
The Bank of Montreal and the Bank of Nova Scotia are expected to release their first quarter earnings on March 3, 2009.
Overall bank profits are down from the beginning of 2008, but the banks are crediting there moderate growth to the strength of Canadian businesses.
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