Monday, 25 Nov 2019 07:15 AM MYT
Profit margins are being squeezed by factors such as falling revenues from capital market units and higher bad-loan provisions. Analysts expect earnings per share to grow at just 3 per cent to 4 per cent for fiscal 2019, according to a straw poll by Reuters. That would be the slowest growth rate since the fiscal 2009.
That has weighed on bank stocks, with the Canadian banks index rising just 9.4 per cent over the past year, less than the 13 per cent gain in the broader Toronto stock benchmark. Challenges also linger for banks’ beleaguered capital markets businesses, the only segment to deliver negative earnings growth with a 12 per cent decline so far this year, according to National Bank of Canada.