- Total returns and profitability at the former Canadian banking laggard are now tops among peers, and the bank's dividend yield is the highest of the five major lenders. Meanwhile, CEO Victor Dodig - under whose leadership at least part of this transformation has taken place (he took over 18 months ago) - is on the hunt for a U.S. acquisition to further diversify operations.
- “We wouldn’t have bought CM a decade ago," says a fund manager. “They just made one mistake after another. A long time ago, if there was a pothole in the road Commerce would hit it, but that hasn’t happened in a long time.”
- Speaking to Bloomberg ahead of the annual meeting, Dodig says CIBC could spend up to C$4B on a deposit-taking U.S. commercial bank following the sale of its stake in American Century Investments.
- Now read: A Good Time To Buy The 'Big 5' Canadian Bank Stocks (March 31)