Canadian Banks' and Insurers' Strong Capitalization and Liquidity Levels Lead to OSFI Lifting Capital Management Activity Restrictions
Canada's largest banks and life insurers have maintained relatively strong performance through the peak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Regulatory capital levels have increased for banks and stayed at healthy levels for insurers. As a result, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced on November 4, 2021, that it is immediately lifting its restrictions on dividend increases and share buybacks. Capital management activity restrictions were implemented at the onset of the pandemic, when OSFI issued a directive on March 13, 2020, to halt dividend increases and suspend share buybacks.Key highlights include:
-- The removal of dividend restrictions signals OSFI’s confidence that the systemic risk for banks and insurers from the pandemic has subsided.
-- Elevated capital levels, strong liquidity, and sustained earnings throughout the pandemic support the removal of restrictions on capital management activities.
-- Banks and insurers are likely to remain well above regulatory capital thresholds, despite the anticipated dividend payout increases and share buybacks.
“With resilient capital and liquidity, boards and senior management have been given the green light to resume making decisions on how to prudently distribute capital. Our expectation is for an accelerated pace of capital distributions in order to compensate for the past several quarters during which OSFI's directive prevented banks and insurers from taking such actions. DBRS Morningstar is comfortable, all else being equal and given current levels of capital, liquidity and earnings, with aggressive capital returns as long as banks and life insurance companies stay within their capital targets and remain comfortably above all capital and liquidity regulatory thresholds.” Said Carl De Souza, Senior Vice President, North American FIG.
Bank of Montreal is a financial services organization. Co. provides a range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services. Co. serves its clients through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, which provides financial services to personal and commercial customers; Private Client Group, which provides wealth management products and services to individuals and select institutional segments; and BMO Capital Markets, which provides clients financial and capital markets services to corporate, institutional and government clients.
Scotiabank is a financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and parts of Asia. Through its three operating segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, and Global Banking and Markets, Co. provides a range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. As of Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$915,273 million and total deposits of C$625,367 million.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is a financial institution. Through its three business units, Co. provides a range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, corporate and institutional clients in Canada and around the world. Co.'s Retail and Business Banking business unit provides financial advice, products and services. Co.'s Wealth Management business unit provides integrated advice and investment solutions. Co.'s Capital Markets business unit provides integrated credit and global markets products, investment banking advisory services and research. As of Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$565.26 billion and total deposits of C$439.71 billion.
Great-West Lifeco is a financial services holding company with interests in the life insurance, health insurance, retirement savings, investment management and reinsurance businesses. Co. has operations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia through The Great-West Life Assurance Company, London Life Insurance Company, The Canada Life Assurance Company, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and Putnam Investments, LLC. Co., through its operating subsidiaries, provides protection and savings products that are distributed through multiple sales channels. Products are marketed under the Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life brands.
Manulife Financial is a provider of financial protection and wealth management products and services, including individual life insurance, group life and health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension products, annuities and mutual funds to individual and group customers in Asia, Canada and the United States. Co. also provides investment management services with respect to Co.'s general fund assets, segregated fund assets, mutual funds, and to institutional customers. Co. also offers reinsurance services, specializing in property and aviation catastrophe risk reinsurance products.
National Bank of Canada is a provider of financial services that include banking and investment solutions for individuals and businesses as well as securities brokerage, insurance and wealth management services. Co. operates in three business segments: Personal and Commercial, which encompasses the banking, financing, and investing services; Wealth Management, which comprises investment solutions, trust services, banking services, lending services and other wealth management solutions; and Financial Markets, which encompasses banking services, investment banking services and financial solutions. At Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$245.83 billion and total deposits of C$156.67 billion.
Royal Bank of Canada is a financial services company that provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services. Co. serves personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 37 other countries. Co. is organized into five segments: Personal and Commercial Banking, which is comprised of Co.'s personal and business banking operations, and its auto financing businesses; Wealth Management, Insurance; Investor and Treasury Services; and Capital Markets. As of Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$1.21 trillion and total deposits of C$789.64 billion.
Sun Life Financial is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. is an international financial services organization providing a range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Bermuda. Co. manages its operations in four business segments: Sun Life Financial Canada, Sun Life Financial United States, MFS Investment Management and Sun Life Financial Asia.
Toronto Dominion Bank provides financial services. Co.'s segments comprised of: Canadian Retail, which include Canadian personal and commercial banking businesses, Canadian credit cards, TD Auto Finance Canada and Canadian wealth and insurance businesses; US Retail, which includes the US personal and commercial banking businesses, US credit cards, TD Auto Finance US, US wealth business and the Bank's investment its subsidiary, TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation; and Wholesale Banking, which provides a range of capital markets, investment banking, and corporate banking products and services. As of Oct 31 2017, Co. had total assets of C$1.28 trillion and total deposits of C$832.82 billion.
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