Scotiabank And Bank Of Montreal Post Steep Fall In Loan Losses

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) have posted over C$2.18 billion ($1.65 billion) and C$1.05 billion ($0.75 billion) respectively, as their provision of losses for the third quarter. The losses are said to ‘decline substantially’ in the coming months.

With Bank of Nova Scotia’s most recent provisions mainly in its international unit, the blame’s on Corona pandemic for Canada’s third-biggest bank. Previously, their adjusted net income saw a steep fall from C$1.88 a year back to C$1.04 per share for three months through July in the Latin America-focused international division.

Even the economies have seen a recovery in areas around Latin America, the bank had adapted to their risk appetite in the region. As per Chief Risk Officer Daniel Moore’s recent interaction with analysts over a conference call, Scotiabank “has been adjusted accordingly, taking some lessons from this event.”

Canada’s fourth-largest lender, Bank of Montreal has also reported a similar decrease in its provisions that had almost ‘tripled’ a year ago to C$1.05 billion. The analysts at Bank of Montreal also suggest the formation of a potential “W-shaped” extended economic recovery.

In part driven by the winding down of customer assistance programs, the bank expects its provisions on performing loans to “decline quite substantially”.

Coming to their performance over the year, Scotiabank witnessed a fall in its price by 1.2%, making it to C$55.81 on Tuesday morning in Toronto. On the other hand, BMO noticed a rise in its prices by 3.3%, making it to C$79.29, marking its highest close in 5-1/2 months.

Scotiabank also commented over the majority of loans that have exited deferrals, representing a total of 96% in Canada and 88.8% overseas that remain current.

The recent turn over of events also led to a shrink in the total loan deferral balances at both the banks. However, BMO’s took a fall of a total of 16% in Canada and 64% in the United States from the prior quarter. The figures present 12% of Scotiabank’s loan portfolio, from 14% in the prior quarter

Lastly, the figures also represent Scotiabank fall by 26% in Canada and 1.6% overseas, making its portfolio for 7% of total BMO loans vs 9%.