BMO reports $1.29B Q1 profit, provision for credit losses up from year ago

BMO reports $1.29B Q1 profit

Photo: The Canadian Press

A person makes their way past the Bank of Montreal (BMO) building in the Financial District of Toronto, on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

BMO Financial Group reported a first-quarter profit of $1.29 billion as its provision for credit losses rose compared with a year ago.

The bank says its profit amounted to $1.73 per diluted share for the quarter ended Jan. 31, up from $133 million or 14 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $7.67 billion for the quarter, up from $5.10 billion.

BMO's provision for credit losses — the money it set aside to cover bad loans — amounted to $627 million, up from $217 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, BMO says it earned $2.56 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $3.06 per diluted share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of $3.02 per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

"Against an uncertain economic outlook, we continued to demonstrate the strength and resilience of our diversified businesses and the benefit of strategic acquisitions," BMO chief executive Darryl White said in a statement.

BMO's Canadian personal and commercial banking business was $921 million, down from $951 million a year earlier, as higher revenue was more than offset by higher expenses and a higher provision for credit losses.

In the U.S., BMO's personal and commercial banking business earned $560 million, down from $665 million in the same quarter last year.

The bank's wealth management arm earned $240 million, up from $159 million a year earlier, while BMO's capital markets business earned $393 million, down from $488 million in the same quarter last year.

BMO's corporate services group lost $822 million, compared with a loss of $2.13 billion a year earlier.