Canada’s banks will overcome COVID-19

Article Excerpt

Canada’s Big Five banks continue to set aside large amounts for any rise in loan losses because of COVID-19’s economic impact. Regulators have also ordered the banks to freeze their dividends to preserve capital. However, most borrowers continue to pay their loans on time. The pandemic has also prompted more customers to switch to online banking services, which will cut long-term operating costs. Those savings should let the banks resume dividend increases in 2021. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $98 is a buy. Canada’s largest bank (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $137.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) increased its loan-loss provisions in the fiscal 2020 third quarter, ended July 31, 2020, by 58.8%, to $675 million from $425 million a year earlier. Even so, that’s much better than its second quarter provisions of $2.83 billion. The bank’s earnings in the quarter fell 1.9%, to $3.20 billion from $3.26 billion…