Borrower stress in focus as banks set to report results

While interest rates have started to come down, borrowers and lenders are still feeling the strain.

- IAN BICKIS

The upcoming results, which kick off Thursday when TD Bank Group reports, will cover three months to the end of July, which overlaps with the first two Bank of Canada interest rate cuts.

Just how much stress they’re under will be a main focus for analysts as the big banks gear up to report third-quarter results.

“Our key focus for the quarter will be on credit as pressure mounts from both commercial and personal banking customers,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Matthew Lee said in a note.

The upcoming results, which kick off Thursday when TD Bank Group reports, will cover the three months to the end of July.

The timing overlaps with the first two Bank of Canada interest rate cuts that brought its key rate down half a percentage point to 4.5 per cent, a reduction matched by the banks that dropped their prime rates to 6.7 per cent.

Despite the cuts, it still makes for much higher mortgage renewal rates and continued challenges for those exposed to variable rates.