Sale Of US Money Manager Boosts CIBC Profit

The fiscal third-quarter report of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce saw its profit rising to 47 percent, heightened by a $383 million gain from selling off its minority stake in US money manager, American Century Investments.

The quarter which ended July 31^st had the bank’s net income rising to $1.44 billion or $3.61 per share, an increase from $978 million or $2.42 a year ago, according to a statement released by the Toronto-based bank on Thursday. Excluding some items, profit was at $2.67 per share, surpassing the $2.34 average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Victor Dodig, in a statement, said, “Our strong results this quarter were broad-based, as each of our retail and business banking, wealth management and capital markets business units performed well.”

The fifth-biggest bank further stated that its Canadian consumer lending business’ earnings rose 5.7 percent from a year ago and its capital markets division jumped 15 percent. The gain which increased wealth management earnings was as a result of selling its 41 percent stake in American Century to Nomura Holdings Inc. in May for about $1 billion.