The Bank of Nova Scotia (USA) (BNS), Bank of Montreal (USA) (BMO): It’s Hard to Go Wrong With Canadian Banks

RBC weighted heavily on investment banking

The bank expects increasing demand for loans due to the financial recovery. That’s an area that makes up a major part of the company’s revenue. Investment banking accounted for 23% of the firm’s income last year, and that’s set to rise. In fact, the bank is already experiencing a decrease in nonperforming loans and an increase in loan loss reserves. That is a surefire indication that the bank is being paid back, with interest in hand. With that in mind, investors also need to consider the low interest rates that affect margins. However, RBC has managed to average 17% annual returns over the last 10 years.

BNS looks to grow abroad

Emerging markets is the name of the game for The Bank of Nova Scotia (USA) (NYSE:BNS). The company (which is also referred to as Scotiabank) boasts of exposure to India, China, and Brazil. In fact, international exposure represented 18% of the firm’s earnings growth last year, and 50% of the profits came from overseas. Net interest income after loan loss provision was $8.7 billion last year and $6.5 billion in 2009, representing 33% growth, 3 percentage points higher than RBC.

The firm has been growing at a fast pace, with an aggressive acquisition strategy that aims to diversify the company, an area that it lacks when compared to RBC. The majority of that diversification has been in several countries, though each investment is relatively minor compared to RBC’s activity.

When it is in each of these countries, it waits for an acquisition opportunity, which doesn’t always pay off. For example, if a country nationalizes foreign banking assets, The Bank of Nova Scotia (USA) (NYSE:BNS) could get burned, which is exactly what happened about 10 years ago in Argentina.

Scotiabank is also diversifying digitally after its recent acquisition of ING Bank of Canada’s online banking operations. That increased CAD $40 billion of assets and CAD $30 billion of deposits, including 1.8 million customers. This allows the bank to cross sell its products and services, and shows a tremendous amount of growth for its share price.