Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Please go ahead, Geoff. Thank you, and good morning, everyone.

We will begin this morning's call with opening remarks from Harry Culham, our President and Chief Executive Officer, followed by Rob Sedran, our Chief Financial Officer, and Frank Guse, our Chief Risk Officer. Also on the call today are a number of our executives, including Christian Exshaw, Capital Markets, Kevin Li, U.S. Region, Hratch Panossian, Personal and Business Banking, Canada, Susan Rimmer, Commercial Banking, and Eric Belanger, Wealth Management. They are available to take questions following the prepared remarks. As noted on slide one of our investor presentation, our comments may contain forward-looking statements which involve assumptions and have inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. I would also remind listeners that the bank uses non-GAAP financial measures to arrive at adjusted results. Management measures performance on a reported and adjusted basis and considers both to be useful in assessing underlying business performance.

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Harry.

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Today we announced strong third-quarter results underscoring disciplined execution against a clear strategy. The connectivity of our platform and deep client relationships are translating into high-quality earnings and broad-based growth. We believe we have meaningful runway ahead to continue to drive outperformance from our purpose-built franchise. I will start with an overview of our adjusted quarter three results and then share highlights of progress against our strategy this quarter. We reported earnings per share of CAD 2.73, a 26% increase from the prior year, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth. Revenues of CAD 8 billion were up 15% from the prior year, reflecting broad-based momentum across each of our businesses. Expenses were up 11% from the prior year, marking our 12th consecutive quarter of positive operating leverage.

Pre-provision, pre-tax earnings rose 20% to CAD 4 billion, while our efficiency ratio improved by 200 basis points from the prior year. We remain confident in the strength of our credit portfolios, and we continue to stay close to our clients. We recognize that rising trade and geopolitical tensions are having real consequences on the economy. The developments over the past week are a reminder that the path forward will not be linear, and we plan for a range of outcomes. Through periods like this, our clients can count on CIBC for timely advice and practical solutions to help them navigate what lies ahead. We have built a diversified franchise to weather uncertainty. With that, our balance sheet is a source of strength and continues to provide meaningful flexibility.

We ended the quarter with a CET1 ratio of 13.4% after repurchasing 7.5 million shares and delivered a return on equity of 16.8%, which is up 260 basis points from a year ago. That combination speaks to the underlying durability of our franchise and our disciplined approach to capital deployment. That same strength in capital, liquidity, and funding is what enables us to stand alongside our clients through periods of uncertainty and periods of opportunity. Canada's renewed focus on sovereignty and economic resiliency is creating one of the most significant capital mobilization efforts and opportunities our country has seen in decades. The implementation of Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy represents a substantial opportunity for our commercial clients. Earlier this quarter, we hosted our inaugural CIBC Defence and Resiliency Summit at our headquarters here in Toronto, bringing together senior government leaders, investors, and clients from across the ecosystem.

This summit reflects how CIBC leverages our convening power and sector expertise to help clients and key leaders navigate complex, rapidly emerging opportunities, and we intend to be the bank our clients turn to as these investments mobilize. Let me now turn to an update on our strategy. We have been clear on the four priorities shaping how we allocate capital, invest in our franchise, and position our bank for durable growth. This quarter, we saw progress across each of them. Our first strategic priority is to grow our mass affluent and private wealth franchise. We continue to differentiate through high-touch, personalized advice, a broad wealth platform, and product innovation velocity. In our managed mass affluent offering, our client base grew by 4%, supporting money and balance growth of 12% from the prior year. That combination underpins our momentum in scaling long-term growth with mass affluent clients.

This quarter, CIBC Private Wealth was named Best Alternative Asset Manager by Family Wealth Report. That recognition speaks to the depth of our wealth franchise and our ability to bring differentiated capabilities to high-net-worth clients. Our second strategic priority is to expand our digital-first personal banking capabilities. Technology is not only equipping our advisors with greater capacity to serve clients more effectively, but also giving clients more control and personalization. Our momentum is evident in Investor's Edge, our self-directed investing platform. This year, we achieved 34% year-over-year growth in new account openings as Canadians are choosing CIBC as their digital investing partner of choice. That trust is translating into scale with AUA on Investor's Edge up 27% from the prior year. Together, these results tell a clear story. Our investments in digital capabilities are resonating with our clients.

We also expanded our reach with skilled trades professionals across Canada through a new collaboration with TaskRabbit, which includes tailored banking offers, financial literacy resources, and advice. This is a strong example of how we are building relationships earlier, serving clients in growing segments, and supporting them as their personal and business needs evolve. Our third strategic priority is to deliver connectivity and differentiation to our clients. This remains a defining strength of our culture and is contributing to stronger performance across our bank. In our Canadian commercial banking business, 95% of our lending clients also maintain a deposit relationship with our bank. We prioritize clients who bank and borrow with us because it gives us a clearer understanding of their business and ambitions, enabling us to deliver the tailored advice that sets us apart. That same client-focused execution across the enterprise is also being recognized externally.

During the quarter, CIBC Capital Markets was named Canada's Best Investment Bank for Financing Solutions at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2026, while Global Finance recognized CIBC as the best overall cash management bank in Canada for 2026. Together, these distinctions reinforce the strength of our capabilities and the differentiated value we continue to deliver for clients across our platform. Our fourth strategic priority is to enable, simplify, and protect our bank. AI is helping us execute faster, strengthen operational excellence, and compete from a position of strength. We are scaling governed, repeatable capabilities that enhance client experience, improve colleague efficiency, and support risk management. This quarter, CIBC received two Digital Banker awards for AI innovation and digital transformation, strong external validation of our approach and the progress we are making. We also announced two important proprietary AI advancements.

First, we introduced CIBC AI 2.0, the first enterprise-wide agentic AI workspace in Canadian banking. This enables team members to delegate complex multi-step tasks to an AI agent so they can focus more time on strategic work and client relationships. Second, we launched CIBC AdvisorAssist, an AI-enabled platform that helps advisors spend more time with clients. The system automates meeting notes, summaries, and follow-up documentation while supporting regulatory compliance, and this reduces administrative time for advisors by up to 50%. Together, these solutions demonstrate how we are actively innovating and deploying AI in practical, governed, and scalable ways to improve client experience and increase employee efficiency. The progress across all four of our strategic priorities and momentum we are experiencing reinforces our confidence in our approach, the strength of our franchise, and the meaningful runway of opportunities ahead.

Against that backdrop, I'm pleased to announce that we will host our next Investor Day on December 9. This will be an opportunity to take investors and analysts deeper into our strategy, the strength of our business mix, and the priorities driving durable growth and long-term value creation across our platform, and we look forward to sharing how we are positioning CIBC to win over the long term. Looking ahead, we approach the balance of fiscal 2026 with measured confidence. The trade environment will continue to evolve, and we are not going to speculate on where it lands. What we can control is how we show up for our clients and how we run our bank with excellence. Regardless of the environment, our playbook does not change.

We stay close to our clients, we maintain credit discipline, we invest strategically in our platform, and we effectively deploy capital to support both profitable growth and shareholder returns. That consistency matters through the cycle. It's the way we operate at the Bank of Commerce, and it's how we will continue creating value for our stakeholders. With that, I'll now turn it over to Rob for a review of our financials.