CIBC's Q4 net income up 25 per cent from year ago to cap record annual profit

The Canadian Press</span>
Published Thursday, November 30, 2017 6:46AM EST
Last Updated Thursday, November 30, 2017 8:04AM EST

TORONTO -- The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported a 25 per cent jump in net income to $1.16 billion in its latest quarter on strong domestic earnings and better-than-expected performance in the U.S. after acquiring a Chicago-based bank.

CIBC (TSX:CM) said Thursday its net income for the three months ended Oct. 31 amounted to $2.59 per diluted share, compared with $2.32 per share during the same period in 2016.

On an adjusted basis, CIBC's profit amounted to $2.81 per share in the fourth quarter, up eight per cent from $2.60 per share in the fourth quarter of 2016.

That beat the $2.59 in adjusted earnings per share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

For its full financial year, the Canadian lender's net income attributable to equity shareholders was $4.7 billion, compared with $4.28 billion for its 2016 financial year.

"In 2017, CIBC delivered record net income driven by strong performance across all of our strategic business units, as well as our acquisition of The PrivateBank," says Victor Dodig, CIBC's president and chief executive in a statement.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $4.27 billion, up 16 per cent from $3.68 billion in the same period a year ago, while revenue for the full year was $16.28 billion, up from $15.04 billion.

CIBC said its Canadian personal and small business banking division saw net income of $551 million, down $8 million or 1.4 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2016. On an adjusted basis, the bank's net income $623 million, up $63 million or 11.3 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier.

Its Canadian commercial banking and wealth management division reported net income of $287 million for the quarter, up 13 per cent from $254 million at the same time last year.

But its U.S. commercial banking and wealth management unit saw a major bump in profit, with net income for the quarter of $107 million -- more than four times the $23 million it saw during the same quarter a year earlier.

That reflected a full quarter of "strong performance" from The PrivateBank, which CIBC purchased for roughly US$5 billion in June and rebranded in September as CIBC Bank USA.

"CIBC came in well ahead of expectations on the back of exceptionally strong domestic retail and a better than forecast contribution from its new U.S. platform, including PrivateBank," Barclays analyst John Aiken wrote in a note to clients.

CIBC's capital markets division, however, saw a drop in net income to $222 million from $255 million during the fiscal fourth quarter in 2016.

The bank's common equity tier 1 ratio, a key measure of the bank's financial health, was 10.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 10.4 per cent in the third quarter, but down from 11.3 per cent one year ago.

Provisions for credit losses, or money set aside for bad loans, was $229 million, up from $229 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Let's block ads! (Why?)