(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Montreal’s credit issues, which have plagued the lender all year and caused yet another earnings miss Thursday, have now been “contained,” Chief Executive Officer Darryl White said.
The Canadian bank missed estimates in its fiscal fourth quarter after setting aside more than C$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) for potentially bad loans, about 50% more than analysts had forecast. But the bank’s executives signaled during an investor call that the picture should now improve.
“While we expect provisions to remain elevated, we believe that Q4 represents a high point and will begin to moderate through 2025,” said Chief Risk Officer Piyush Agrawal. White concluded the call by reiterating, “We do believe that our credit is contained.”
Bank of Montreal earned C$1.90 per share on an adjusted basis in its fiscal fourth quarter, according to a statement Thursday, falling short of the C$2.38 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Several analysts speculated that the high level of provisions taken in the quarter could be a “clearing event” meant to address any outstanding credit weakness in one painful swoop.
Bank of Montreal “appears to be trying to put its credit issues behind it, with even higher provisions on performing coincident with a spike in reserves against performing loans to buttress against future deterioration,” Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analyst John Aiken said in a note to clients.
The bank’s shares initially dropped when markets opened but were up 3% to C$138.22 by 12:21 p.m. in Toronto. They’ve gained 4.3% this year.
The lender has posted solid operating results this year but disappointed on credit provisions for several quarters in a row. Analysts have been frustrated with management’s failure to clearly explain why Bank of Montreal’s US commercial-loan book appears to be an outlier on credit performance.
US Expansion
Bank of Montreal expanded its US footprint with the purchase of San Francisco-based Bank of the West last year, which also increased its exposure to potential credit losses. The lender’s shares tumbled after reporting third-quarter results in August, but have staged a comeback in recent weeks.
The firm got an extra capital boost in the period after winning a legal victory over its involvement in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by former businessman Tom Petters. The bank said in September that it would record an extra C$875 million after taxes in the fourth quarter, reversing an earlier provision it took in relation to the case.
The bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio, a key metric for regulators, increased by 60 basis points to 13.6% from the previous three months, largely driven by the reversal of the legal provision.
Most of Bank of Montreal’s fourth-quarter loan-loss provisions were taken in the capital-markets and commercial-banking businesses, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Paul Gulberg said in a note Thursday.
Among Canadian banks that reported earlier, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce all posted provisions for loan losses that came in below analyst expectations. At C$162 million, National Bank of Canada’s provisions were higher than the average forecast of C$154 million.
Bank of Montreal announced a 3% increase to its quarterly dividend Thursday, boosting it by 4 cents to C$1.59 a share, payable on Feb. 26. It also said it intends to buy back as many as 20 million shares.
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