National Bank sees continued growth in mortgage loans amid CWB integration drivers

In Wednesday’s earnings call, the bank said personal mortgage volumes rose 4% year-on-year, excluding the CWB acquisition, and growth is expected to continue at a similar rate in the second half of 2025.
The bank noted that even if deposit pricing becomes more competitive, the volume of origin remains strong.
Executive Vice President Lucie Blanchet said the mortgage gap is neutral as strong volumes and updates offset pricing pressure, especially in the broker channel.
“Our advantage is where the market remains active,” she noted. “So, we are still very, very positive about the outflow of mortgage rates.”
EVP Judith Ménard said that NPC’s commercial real estate loans continue to outperform, and the book’s growth rate is low.
CWB integration is now in progress and customer migration will begin this summer. Management said this will pave the way for revenue synergies in the mortgage and wealth sectors, and is expected to generate full profits in 2027 and beyond.
The wealth migration will begin in late fall and continue until early 2026, while the P&C transition will begin in summer. So far, the bank said it is seeing positive early signs: $27 million in realization cost and funding synergies were reported this quarter, accounting for 43% of its three-year synergies target.
Chief Risk Officer Jean-Sébastien Grisé confirmed that about 75% of National’s residential mortgage books were repriced at higher rates.
“The 90-day mortgage violation remains below pre-pandemic levels and our clients continue to show resilience in managing higher refinancing costs,” he said.
Despite its overall CET1 ratio of 13.4%, management reiterated that it would not consider stock buybacks until it has greater visibility into organic growth and completed a full-capital plan update later this year.
National Bank’s revenue focus
Q2NET Revenue (Adjusted): $ million (+%y/y)
Earnings per share: $
Q2 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | |
---|---|---|---|
Residential Mortgage Portfolio | $62.8B | $66.7B | $74.8B |
HELOC Portfolio | $29.5B | $29.3B | $30B |
Percentage of uninsured mortgage portfolio | 39% | 39% | 44% |
avg. Loan Value of Uninsured (LTV) | 58% | 57% | 59% |
Renew a fixed-rate mortgage in the next 12 MOSes | 10% | 12% | 16% |
Portfolio Mixed: There are variable percentages | 28% | 28% | 28% |
Residential mortgage loans that are due more than 90 days | 0.16% | 0.17% | 0.21% |
Bank of Canada Net Interest Rate (NIM) | 2.36% | 2.28% | 2.30% |
Percentage of Canadian RESL portfolio made up of investor mortgages | 12% | 11% | 12% |
CET1 ratio | 13.2% | 13.6% | 13.4% |
Conference call
In the agency channel competition
- “The Broker Channel is always a competitive channel, and that’s for sure … but our good performance offsets that,” EVP Lucie Blanchet said.
About commercial loans during CWB integration
- “With CWB, it’s not surprising that growth is very gentle during the integration period. We hope that once customers start migrating, we do want growth to grow.”
Commercial real estate exposure
- “As we see growth in insured real estate, it has been less affected [by economic uncertainty],” Maynard said.
About capital deployment and share repurchase
- “We think it’s too early to talk about buybacks at this point in time … Our focus is on increasing the balance sheet,” said CEO Laurent Ferreira.
Source: NBC Telephone
notes: Transcripts are provided by company and/or third-party sources and cannot 100% ensure their accuracy.
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Last modified: May 28, 2025