Bank of Nova Scotia is seeing its strongest commercial banking deal pipeline in a long time, alongside 10% year-over-year small-business lending growth and five consecutive quarters of declining commercial credit-loss provisions, Group Head of Canadian Banking Aris Bogdaneris said at a Barclays event. Bogdaneris said the bank is already active with clients in oil and gas and defense under its CAD 100 billion commitment to Canadian industry, which covers both the existing book and future activity, and that it has added sales capacity in mid-market, small-business, prairie, British Columbia and Quebec segments. Fee revenue has grown more than 20% over the past two quarters on card, mutual fund and insurance fees, while net interest margin has expanded for five consecutive quarters and non-mortgage lending is growing faster than mortgage lending for the first time in two years. Digital channels accounted for 40% of third-quarter sales, and the bank aims to lift the share of revenue generated digitally from about 18% to 30%, with AI delivering nearly 70% time savings in parts of mortgage verification. Bogdaneris said 95% of new mortgage inflows now include a Mortgage+ bundle with at least three products, retail day-to-day and savings balances rose 1.2% sequentially in the third quarter, and a March high-interest savings launch has added CAD 6 billion in balances.
Bank of Nova ScotiaFive consecutive quarters of declining commercial credit-loss provisions and expanding net interest margin improve the bank's earnings/margin profile.
