The Big Six’s earnings season is underway in Canada
Scotiabank’s fourth-quarter financial results beat analyst estimates as the banking giant got earnings season started for Canada’s Big Six lenders on Tuesday morning.
The company posted earnings of $2.2 billion per share in Q4, up from $1.69 billion in 2024’s fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.93, higher than the $1.84 expected by analysts, while net income on the global banking and markets side also surpassed forecasts.
That adjustment excluded a restructuring charge, which arrived as the bank aimed to trim expenses – but provisions for credit losses (PCLs), which are being closely watched by markets as a clue of how the country’s top lenders are assessing the economic outlook, ticked slightly higher.
Those provisions for potentially souring loans rose to $1.1 billion, compared with $1.03 billion the same time last year. Analysts had expected a PCL of about $1.08 billion.
That jump weighed against the performance of Scotiabank’s Canadian banking unit, where adjusted earnings slipped by 9% (to $3.43 billion) for the full year.
But overall, Scotiabank chief executive officer Scott Thomson said the results reflected a “very positive year” for the bank, pinpointing the strength of its global wealth management and global banking and markets units.
Other top lenders are scheduled to release their Q4 results in the days ahead: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and National Bank on Wednesday, followed by Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) on Thursday.
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