National Bank Raises Dividend 6.5% After Earnings Increase

By Robb M. Stewart

National Bank of Canada will bump up its dividend 6.5% after a lift in profit in the latest quarter thanks to lower credit-loss provisions and a lift from wealth management revenue and its personal and commercial banking operations.

Net income came in at 1.23 billion Canadian dollars (US$913.2 million), or C$3.06 a share, for the second fiscal quarter, up from C$896 million, or C$2.17, a year earlier.

Per-share earnings on an adjusted basis that excludes certain items, mainly related to its buy of Canadian Western Bank, increased to C$2.85 for the three months to April 30, missing the C$3.13 mean estimate of analysts polled by FactSet.

The bank's overall revenue climbed to C$3.91 billion for the period from C$3.65 billion last year, beating the C$3.81 billion expected.

National Bank said personal and commercial banking revenue was up about 5% thanks to increased net interest income and growth in loan and deposit volumes. Wealth management revenue was up 14% year-over-year as fee-based income led growth, while capital markets revenue slipped roughly 2% with a fall in global markets revenues.

The Montreal-based bank recorded C$233 million in provisions for credit losses in the latest period, down sharply from C$545 million a year ago and below the roughly C$260 million analysts anticipated. The decline was due mainly to the initial provisions of C$230 million booked on acquired non-impaired Canadian Western Bank loans in 2025.

National Bank plans to increase its dividend by C$0.08 to C$1.32 a share for the new quarter. This will be payable Aug. 1 to shareholders of record on June 29.

Canada's sixth-largest lender a little over a year ago finalized a C$5.3 billion takeover of Canadian Western Bank, significantly extending its footprint in Alberta and British Columbia from what had largely been a focus on Quebec. It moved to further beef up in Canada with a deal in December to extend in Quebec with the purchase of the retail and small business operations of Laurentian Bank of Canada for roughly book value as part of a break up of the smaller lender.

National Bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 13.5% at the end of April, above the minimum 11.5% of total risk-weighted assets required of Canada's six biggest lenders by the country's banking regulator.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

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May 27, 2026 07:26 ET (11:26 GMT)