Bank of Montreal's fiscal third-quarter profit was little changed as stronger contributions from its domestic retail-banking operations and capital markets business were offset by lower wealth-management earnings.
The Toronto-based bank, Canada's fourth-largest lender by assets, earned 1.13 billion Canadian dollars ($1.03 billion), or C$1.67 a share, compared with C$1.12 billion, or C$1.66 a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted to exclude items, the bank said earnings rose 4% to C$1.16 billion, or C$1.73 a share. Analysts were expecting the bank to report a profit of C$1.66 a share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.
The bank noted that year-earlier results were particularly strong, benefiting from "very low credit losses and a positive impact of long-term rates on insurance."
Loan-loss provisions rose to C$130 million from C$76 million, it said.
BMO said personal and commercial banking earnings rose almost 8% to C$685 million, while BMO Capital Markets results jumped 14% to C$306 million. Wealth-management earnings fell 12% to C$190 million.
The bank, the third of Canada's "Big Five" lenders to report fiscal third-quarter results, maintained its quarterly dividend at 78 Canadian cents a share.
Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's third-largest lender by assets, also reported results Tuesday, posting a nearly 35% increase in profits, fueled by a gain from selling most of its stake in money manager CI Financial Corp. Scotiabank also raised its dividend by two Canadian cents to 66 Canadian cents a share.
