They can handle higher loan-loss provisions

Article Excerpt

The current uncertainty caused by rising interest rates and still-high inflation has prompted Canada’s big banks to increase their loan-loss provisions. Even so, those provisions remain well below their 2020 pandemic peaks. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $140 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $196.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) recently agreed to pay $13.5 billion in cash for the Canadian operations of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc (New York symbol HSBC). That includes 130 branches, which mainly cater to businesses in industries that trade and bank internationally. HSBC also provides banking and wealth management services to over 770,000 retail clients. In all, it has total assets of $134 billion. If Royal can win the necessary regulatory approvals, it aims to complete the purchase in late 2023. The bank expects it will cost $1 billion to integrate the new operations, but also expects to realize…