chief executive Victor Dodig says Ottawa’s affordable housing proposals in the upcoming federal budget will not solve the country’s real estate market issues in the near term.
He said a more immediate solution could include incentivizing homeowners to create rental units in existing homes.In the past two years, Ottawa implemented three new taxes – which caught the banks off guard – aimed at extracting billions of dollars from banks and insurers.Mr. Dodig said the suddenly heavier tax environment threatens to deter investment in Canada’s banking sector.
CIBC has been lowering its exposure to office lending – a move Mr. Dodig said is a long-term strategy, as it shifts resources to businesses where the bank believes it can grow. CIBC is expanding its U.S. operations into fast-growing cities, including Palm Beach, Fla., and San Francisco, particularly in wealth management, to attract high-net-worth clients. Mr. Dodig expects to build these businesses organically but would consider some small acquisitions to add to its wealth business.
“There may be in time, and I don’t think you should ever look at a moment in time to say, this feels like the same old trajectory,” Mr. Dodig said. “We have senior women throughout our bank, not necessarily in the C-suite, SBU kind of leadership roles, but we’ll focus on that as we go forward as well.”