TORONTO - Canadian lender National Bank's expansion from east to west, rather than following Canada's big banks south of the border, could help secure growth, analysts and investors said.
"When you look at the banks that are underperforming, they're typically the banks that are focused on growing international banking franchises," he said. National Bank has the smallest exposure to international banking among peers, with Cambodia its only significant foreign operation through its acquisition of ABA Bank in 2019.
National Bank could introduce CWB's equipment financing business and its focus on wealth management in Alberta to Quebec in the east, said analyst Maxime Robillard at Quebec-based Van Berkom Global Asset Management, a CWB shareholder. Some deals have taken months or over a year to get approvals from the federal banking regulator, the competition bureau and ultimately the department of finance.
Analysts noted that the big six banks have structural advantages that the smaller banks will not be able to overcome that could eventually drive further consolidation.