"We've made good progress … but there's more upside to capture in the year and years ahead," said
Dodig said the move is one of his top priorities as the bank and country head into another year of uncertainty caused by the virus.
The bulk of 2020 has been challenging for banks like CIBC, which were forced to help customers navigate an unexpected pandemic replete with temporary lockdowns, soaring unemployment levels and consumer demand for loan deferrals and other abatements.
CIBC, however, is already seeing some of the strains caused by COVID-19 ease up.
Client applications, Dodig said, have recovered from earlier lows and are even generating positive year-over-year growth.
Traction from digital offerings like the bank's GoalPlanner personal finance app, are also proving to be asset.
"Our investments in technology over the past several years to digitize and simplify our bank are allowing us to provide real-time remote support to our clients at a time when physical distancing has become the norm," Dodig said.
His remarks came as CIBC beat expectations even as its fourth-quarter profit edged down compared with a year ago.
The bank earned nearly
On an adjusted basis, CIBC earned
Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of
CIBC's revenue totalled
Like most of the big Canadian banks, which reported fourth-quarter earnings this week, CIBC took a step back from pouring record-breaking amounts of cash into reserves to protect themselves from bad loans.
Provisions for credit losses amounted to
CIBC also announced Thursday that
Stevenson will succeed
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