Montreal-based National Bank of Canada is benefiting from good economic conditions in Quebec, including low unemployment and resilient business confidence, chief executive Louis Vachon said Wednesday.
“We are seeing the results with higher growth in loans and deposits,” Vachon told analysts after National Bank announced a 10% increase in net income for the third quarter (Q3 2018) ended July 31.
“Even with the uncertainty surrounding NAFTA, business confidence in Quebec remains high and we’re well-positioned to benefit as entrepreneurs invest in growth.”
The ongoing negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement attracted little attention during of 50-minute conference call with analysts, but Vachon and other bank executives repeatedly expressed cautious confidence.
Vachon said the bank is not averse to taking on risks if the potential reward is there but he noted that it has been 10 years since the last recession.
“We’re not forecasting a recession, he said. ”We’re just being a little bit extra careful. And we just want to make sure that our threshold and our risk procedures are respected as we deploy capital — across all business lines…“
Earlier Wednesday, Canada’s sixth-largest bank announced it earned $569 million or $1.52 per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31, up from a profit of $518 million $1.37 in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, National Bank earned $1.53 per diluted share for the quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.39 per share in Q3 2017.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.50 per share, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
National Bank was the fourth big Canadian bank to report improved Q3 2018 profits over the past week, with only Bank of Nova Scotia reporting a year-over-year decline. Toronto-Dominion Bank issues its report on Thursday.
The bank said its personal and commercial banking group earned $248 million in Q3 2018, up from $235 million in Q3 2017.
The wealth management division earned $126 million for the quarter, up 22% from $103 million a year ago.
About 80% of wealth management’s growth in net interest income — the difference between what banks and clients pay in interest — was attributed to interest rate hikes.
The bank’s financial markets group earned $178 million, up from $165 million in the same quarter last year, while its U.S. specialty finance and international division earned $54 million, up from $51 million.