TD Bank Profit Climbs 25%

Toronto-Dominion Bank on Thursday reported a 25% increase in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, in line with analyst expectations, fueled by growth in its U.S. retail and wholesale banking divisions.

TD, Canada's second-biggest bank by assets, said its overall profit for the quarter ended Oct. 31 rose to 2.30 billion Canadian dollars ($1.71 billion), or C$1.20 a share, from C$1.84 billion, or 96 Canadian cents a year earlier.

Adjusted to exclude items, the bank said it earned C$1.22 a share, meeting the Thomson Reuters mean estimate.

"We are pleased with our performance this quarter and overall earnings growth in 2016," Chief Executive Bharat Masrani said in a release.

Loan-loss provisions, or money set aside to cover bad loans, totaled C$548 million in the latest quarter, up from C$509 million a year earlier, but down from C$556 million in the previous quarter.

Canadian banking earnings were little changed in the latest quarter, the bank said, while U.S. retail earnings rose about 18%. Wholesale banking profit climbed 21%.

TD's report caps a week of mixed results from Canada's big lenders. Bank of Nova Scotia kicked off earnings season for the lenders on Tuesday with a better-than-expected profit, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce followed suit earlier Thursday. On Wednesday, Royal Bank of Canada's results fell shy of expectations. Bank of Montreal, the country's fourth-largest by assets, will wrap up bank-earnings season on Dec. 6.

Write to Judy McKinnon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2016 08:15 ET (13:15 GMT)

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