In this episode, Sohrab Movahedi, Bipan Rai, and your host, Skye Collyer, delve into Q4 Canadian bank earnings, touching on what’s driving growth and the unifying theme of resilience through diversification. They also share their 2026 outlook for the Big Six.

Diversification Driving Growth: Despite the slowest loan growth in decades, Canadian banks delivered nearly 10% revenue growth, with non-interest income (trading and fee-based) now making up 54% of total revenues.

Mixed Core Performance & Cautious Outlook: Capital markets and wealth management were strong, while traditional lending lagged; banks remain cautious on credit risk, increasing provisions for non-impaired loans.

Valuation & Strategy Implications: Robust capital positions support dividends and buybacks, creating rationale for an equal-weight beta exposure such as ZEB. For those with valuation concerns, we suggest covered call strategies like ZWB to smooth returns and limit volatility.

Portfolios are only as strong as their foundations. In today’s episode, Alain Desbiens joins your host, Erika Toth, to take a deep dive into low-cost core ETFs and how they can do the heavy-lifting for investors’ financial goals at any stage of life. Erika Toth is Director and Head of ETF and Portfolio Consultants at BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM). She is joined on the podcast by Alain Desbiens, Vice Chair, BMO ETFs, BMO GAM. The episode was recorded live on Thursday, November 27, 2025.

As Canadian banks report fiscal year-end earnings, investors may consider buying BMO’s Bank ETFs for their upside potential, diversification and steady cash flow.