CWB Financial Group (TSX: CWB) (CWB) today announced financial performance for the three and six month periods ended April 30, 2021, with second quarter net income available to common shareholders of $72 million, up 40% compared to the same period last year. Second quarter pre-tax, pre-provision income was up 11% from the same period last year and down 3% sequentially, with three fewer interest-earning days compared to the prior quarter.
“Our financial results surpassed our expectations again this quarter, supported by very strong branch-raised deposit and loan growth across the country,” said Chris Fowler, President and CEO. “Our focus to create an unrivaled experience for our clients and invest in our capabilities and product offering is creating exciting growth opportunities for CWB, especially as the near-term economic outlook improves. Based on the expected trajectory of our financial performance for the rest of the year, we now expect to deliver high single-digit loan growth and mid-teens adjusted earnings per share growth on a full year basis in fiscal 2021.”
“Our focus to offer a superior client experience by transforming our capabilities has accelerated growth of full-service relationships within our risk appetite. The $805 million of net loan growth this quarter is one of the highest levels of quarterly organic loan growth that we have delivered in our history. We also continued to drive strong growth of lower cost branch-raised deposits, which has contributed to another sequential increase in our net interest margin.”
“As the economy recovers, we will be well-positioned to accelerate our growth and capture increased market share through our continued expansion in Ontario, where we are planning for the opening of our second full-service banking centre in fiscal 2022. I am also pleased with the progress we have made in the development of our digital client offering, which complements our proactive relationship-based client experience. In the second half of 2021, we will commence a limited initial roll-out of our Virtual COO, a digital solution powered by explainable artificial-intelligence that will provide small business owners with access to real-time information on their financial health and relevant insights to accelerate their business growth. This innovative digital tool enables us to be a disruptor as we proactively support small business owners across Canada.”
“As we look to the year ahead, we are seeing signals of a strong economic recovery that could provide additional accretive opportunities to surpass our baseline loan growth expectations within our risk appetite. To provide the capital flexibility to take full advantage of these potential opportunities, we plan to establish an at-the-market common equity distribution program. This program will provide a flexible and efficient tool to grow our regulatory capital base, if needed, in parallel with stronger levels of loan growth to drive incremental shareholder returns.”
“The parallel run of our AIRB tools and processes continued this quarter. We have gained significant insights as we continue to use these tools across our business and identified opportunities for enhancements that we expect will improve our efficiency and effectiveness as a model-enabled bank. We plan to implement these enhancements and expect to extend our previously communicated timeline for resubmission of our AIRB application beyond the first half of 2022, but believe this approach will result in more favorable long-term outcomes for our teams and our investors.”
“The success we have achieved would not be possible without our talented and dedicated teams. I am very proud that for the second consecutive year, CWB Financial Group was recognized as one of the 50 Best Work PlacesTM in Canada. This award is based on confidential employee trust and engagement survey results, and reflects the strength of our culture. Our continued strategic execution and strong financial results reflects our teams’ passion and dedication to realize our full potential across Canada.”
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chris Williams, MBA
AVP, Investor Relations
Phone: (780) 508-8229
Email: [email protected]