CIBC Profit Exceeds Forecasts; appoints Katharine Stevenson as next president

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported lower fourth-quarter fiscal profit, but still earned more than analysts expected as the bank named its next board chairman.

In line with a steady trend among rival banks reporting quarterly results earlier this week, Canada’s fifth-largest asset bank has set aside far less money than expected to cover potential loan losses, which has helped sustain earnings. .

Credit loss provisions totaled $ 291 million, down 28% year-over-year and 45% from last quarter.

CIBC recorded higher profits from its major Canadian business lines, which include personal and corporate banking and wealth management, but earnings from its US banking branch were down 27% from a year ago.

The bank also announced that Katharine B. Stevenson will succeed John Manley as chairman of its board of directors at the bank’s annual meeting in April. Ms. Stevenson has been a director since 2011 and was previously a financial executive at Nortel Networks Corp., having worked in investment banking at JPMorgan & Co.

For the three months ending October 31, CIBC posted a profit of $ 1 billion, or $ 2.20 per share. This was a 15% decline from $ 1.2 billion, or $ 2.58 per share, in the same quarter last year.

But CIBC’s quarterly results were impacted by one-off items that included a goodwill damage charge of $ 220 million related to its proposed sale of most of its Caribbean business, which was blocked by regulators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After adjusting to exclude those elements, CIBC said it earned $ 2.79 per share, well above the consensus estimate of $ 2.49 per share among analysts, according to Refinitiv.

The bank kept the quarterly dividend unchanged at $ 1.46 per share.

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