Defence Blog Canada

Royal Depository Financial Institution of Canada, Depository Financial Institution of
Montreal and their four greatest domestic challengers may describe debt
writedowns totaling C$1.9 billion ($1.93 billion), contributing
to the industry's first net income driblet in five years.

Fourth-quarter profits at Canada's biggest Banks probably
fell by an norm 6 percent, ache by slacks in the Canadian and
U.S. fixed-income markets, according to Desjardins Securities
Inc. analyst Michael Rube Goldberg in Toronto. Royal Depository Financial Institution and
Toronto-Dominion Depository Financial Institution may be the lone 1s to post higher
operating net income for the one-fourth ended Oct. 31, Rube Goldberg said in
a short letter to clients yesterday.

The consequences may be the industry's worst since the third
quarter of 2002, Scotia Capital analyst Kevin Choquette
estimates. Canadian depository financial institution shares drop by an norm 11 percentage in
2007, the greatest diminution in five years, on concern about
credit-market losses.

''More writedowns are coming in 2008,'' said Darko Mihelic,
an analyst at CIBC World Markets, who have ''sector outperform''
recommendations on Depository Financial Institution of Montreal and Depository Financial Institution of Nova Scotia, and
''sector perform'' evaluations on National Depository Financial Institution of Canada, Royal
Bank and Toronto-Dominion.

The world's greatest fiscal establishments have
collectively disclosed about $66 billion of writedowns since
June for assets tied to the collapse of subprime mortgages, data
compiled by Bloomberg show.

''We're cautious on the sector simply because you never
really cognize what's on the bank's balance sheet that's going to
get dinged,'' said Sir Leslie Stephen Carlin, who assists pull off C$3.5
billion at Toronto-based KBSH Capital Management Inc., which
owns shares of four of the biggest banks.

Commercial Paper

Depository Financial Institution of Montreal, Canada's fourth-biggest bank, said last
week that it anticipates pretax costs of about C$320 million,
primarily from trading and writedowns on commercial paper and
other debt investments. The Toronto-based company said the costs
will lend to a 50 cents-per-share decrease in earnings.

Depository Financial Institution of Montreal will be the first of Canada's Banks to
report net income when it let goes of consequences Nov. 27. Profit,
excluding taxes, investing gains, recognition losses, restructuring
charges and other one-time items, may fall 16 percentage to C$699
million, Rube Goldberg said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Ian Delaware Verteuil wrote in a
Nov. Seven study that the country's six greatest Banks may have
combined trading gross of C$310 million, down from C$1.38
billion a twelvemonth earlier. Sir Joseph Banks may put aside C$802 million in the
quarter for bad loans, up from C$626 million a twelvemonth earlier, de
Verteuil said.

Strong Currency

The strong Canadian dollar also may gnaw gross from the
U.S. units of measurement of Royal Bank, Toronto-Dominion and Depository Financial Institution of Montreal,
analysts said. The Canadian dollar gained as much as 27 percent
this year, touching an all-time high of 90.58 Canadian cents per
U.S. dollar on Nov. Seven before weakening in the past two weeks.

Royal Bank, the country's greatest bank, said Nov. Thirteen that
it will take a C$360 million pretax writedown in the fourth
quarter for retentions of U.S. mortgage-backed securities. The
costs will be countervail by a C$325 million addition from the planned
initial populace offering of Visa Inc., the world's biggest
credit-card network.

Net Income probably rose 2 percentage to C$1.91 billion from a
year earlier, Rube Goldberg said. The Toronto-based bank studies Nov.
30.

Canadian Imperial Depository Financial Institution of Commerce, Toronto-Dominion and
Bank of Nova Scotia also will profit from their bet in Visa
when they describe results.

Visa's IPO

Depository Financial Institution of Nova Scotia, which prints consequences Dec. 6, plans
writedowns of about C$190 million after reducing the value of
its non-bank commercial message paper investings and other debt, offset
by a C$200 million Visa gain. Net Income at Canada's second-largest
bank may fall 15 percentage to C$1.1 billion from a twelvemonth earlier,
Goldberg said.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country's third-biggest bank by
assets, probably avoided writedowns because it had no
investments tied to U.S. subprime mortgages or Canadian
commercial paper. The company benefited from a C$163 million
gain from Visa. Net Income may climb up 22 percentage to C$1.5 billion,
Goldberg said.

Canadian Imperial, the fifth-largest, wrote down C$463
million for investings tied to the U.S. mortgage marketplace and
recorded a C$456 million Visa gain. Net Income may fall 35 percent
to C$660 million, Rube Goldberg said. Results from the Toronto-based
lender are scheduled to be released Dec. 6.

National Depository Financial Institution of Canada, the country's sixth-largest, was
the hardest hit by the credit-market turmoil. The Montreal-based
company programs to enter a C$575 million pretax complaint for
Canadian asset-backed commercial paper investments, wiping out
more than a quarter's worth of profit.

National Bank

Canada's C$34 billion marketplace for commercial paper sold by
non-bank traders land to a arrest in mid-August after trusts
failed to renew most of their debt because investors were
concerned about possible golf course to the U.S. subprime market. National Depository Financial Institution bought back C$2.1 billion of the short-term debt
securities held mainly by common monetary fund clients in August when the
market dried up.

National Depository Financial Institution may describe a nett loss of about C$1 a share on
Nov. 29, Rube Goldberg said, its first quarterly loss in 15 years. A
year earlier, National Depository Financial Institution had nett income of C$220 million, or
C$1.31 a share.

To reach the newsmen on this story:
Doug Alexanders in Toronto at ;
Sean B. Boris Pasternak in Toronto at