Canadian Banks Take Real Estate Hits
Canada’s big banks are reporting heavy financial hits tied to commercial real estate and other properties.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of losses, impairments and charges resulted in the latest quarter from clients’ bad mortgage debts and consolidations by clients and some of the banks, the financial institutions reported.
TD Bank reported that it incurred C$363 million of restructuring charges primarily related to employee severance and other personnel-related costs, real estate optimization. The bank said it expects to incur restructuring charges of similar magnitude in the first half of the 2024 calendar.
TD plans to cut 3% of its workforce, or 3,000 positions, while other Canadian major banks have also voiced plans for large job cuts.
CIBC said it has a provision for credit loss (PCL) of US$183 million, up US$107 million year-over-year, due to higher provisions on impaired loans attributable to the real estate and construction sector. Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Canada took a $70-million provisional credit loss tied to real estate.
RBC said its PCL increased C$70 million, primarily in the bank’s U.S. wealth management business, largely due to higher provisions on impaired loans in the real estate and telecom and media sectors. PCL on impaired loans increased C$40 million, or 8% year-over-year, mainly due to higher provisions in Canadian banking portfolios and in U.S. wealth management.
Scotiabank reported C$63 million in costs related to certain real estate premises.