CIBC reports Q2 profit down from year ago, wealth management profit up 20%

CIBC raised its quarterly dividend as it reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago.

The bank earned $1.52 billion or $1.62 per diluted share in net income for the quarter that ended April 30, down from $1.65 billion or $1.78 per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $5.38 billion, up from $4.93 billion a year ago.

CIBC’s Canadian commercial banking and wealth management business earned $480 million for the quarter, up 20% from $399 million a year ago, while revenues were up nearly 9%.

“Wealth management revenue benefited from growth in asset balances driven by market appreciation and net sales,” an earnings release said.

“Higher expenses were primarily driven by performance-based compensation reflecting favourable business results and higher spending on strategic initiatives.”

Revenue in the division was $762 million, essentially unchanged from $765 million in Q1 and up 8.9% from $700 million a year ago.

As of April 30, CIBC had 5,449 full-time equivalent employees in Canadian commercial banking and wealth management, up from 5,338 as of Jan. 31 and up from 5,136 as a year earlier.

Assets under management in the division were $220 billion on April 30, down 4.3% from $230 billion at the end of Q1 but up 3.2% from a year earlier.

Canadian AUM stood at $64.5 billion for individuals, $27.6 billion for institutions and $127.7 billion in Canadian retail funds and ETFs.

CIBC reported its provision for credit losses for the three months ending April 30 amounted to $303 million, up from $32 million in the same quarter last year, due to the acquisition of the Canadian Costco credit card portfolio while the same quarter last year benefited from a favourable change in its economic outlook.

On an adjusted basis, CIBC says it earned $1.77 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.79 per diluted share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.78 per diluted share for the bank’s second quarter, according financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

“We delivered well-diversified growth across our bank in the second quarter as we continued to invest to execute our client-focused strategy and further build on our momentum,” CIBC CEO Victor Dodig said in a statement.

CIBC’s U.S. commercial banking and wealth management arm earned $180 million, down from $216 million a year ago, while its capital markets business earned $540 million, up from $495 million in the same quarter last year.

The bank said Thursday it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 83 cents per share, up from 80.5 cents per share.