Scotiabank reports $2.09B Q4 profit, down from $2.56B a year ago

Photo: The Canadian Press

Scotiabank reported fourth-quarter net income of $2.09 billion, down from $2.56 billion in the same quarter last year.

The first of Canada's big banks to report its fourth-quarter results said Tuesday the profit amounted to $1.63 per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 31, down from $1.97 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $7.63 billion, down from $7.69 billion in its fourth quarter last year.

Provisions for credit losses totalled $529 million, up from $168 million in the same quarter a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, Scotiabank said it earned $2.06 per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of $2.10 per diluted share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $2.00 per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Scotiabank said its Canadian banking operations earned $1.17 billion in net income in its latest quarter, down from $1.24 billion in the same quarter last year due to an increase in provisions for credit losses in its most recent quarter.

Meanwhile, Scotiabank's international banking operations earned $679 million in net income in its latest quarter, up from $607 million a year ago.

Global wealth management net income totalled $363 million for the quarter, down from $387 million a year ago, while global banking and markets earned $484 million in net income, down from $502 million in the same quarter last year.

For its full financial year, Scotiabank said its net income totalled $10.17 billion or $8.02 per diluted share on $31.42 billion in revenue, compared with a profit of $9.96 billion or $7.70 per diluted share on $31.25 billion in revenue in the same period a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Scotiabank said it earned $8.50 per diluted share for its full financial year, up from an adjusted profit of $7.87 per diluted share a year earlier.