TORONTO, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Canada’s
(RY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) shares jumped nearly 4 percent on
stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, while Bank of
Nova Scotia (BNS.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) came under pressure despite also
topping analysts’ estimates.

Strong loan growth and insurance profits drove RBC to a
fourth-quarter profit of C$1.6 billion ($1.58 billion), up 43
percent from a year ago, despite a drop in capital
markets-related income.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Quarterly results from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) gave Canadian bank earnings season a strong start on Thursday, but the shares of the two banks fell on concerns that their healthy lending and trading revenues could soon dwindle.

Both TD and CIBC handily topped analysts’ earnings forecasts for the August-October quarter due largely to their surprisingly big trading and investment banking revenues. Analysts said the results suggest Canada’s other big banks may also report stronger-than-expected profits.

TORONTO, Nov 27 (Reuters) – A volatile year for Canadian
banking results is likely to end on a soft note, and the
outlook for 2012 won’t inspire confidence as Europe’s debt
troubles deepen and Canadian borrowers turn shy.

Analysts expect percentage year-over-year profit gains in
the mid-to-high single digits when the country’s big banks
begin reporting this week. On a quarter-to-quarter basis,
profits are expected to drop from the third quarter.

TORONTO, Nov 23 (Reuters) – For Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research),
the present is Canada and the United States, but the future will
increasingly be Southeast Asia, where its insurance business is
growing by 30 percent a year with the potential to improve, a
senior executive said on Wednesday.

Premium growth in the six ASEAN countries Manulife operates
in will benefit from out-sized economic growth in the region, as
well as from demographics and expansion into new territories
such as Cambodia, Philip Hampden-Smith, general manager of
Manulife’s Southeast Asian operations, told Reuters.

TORONTO, Nov 21 (Reuters) – A Canadian judge upheld an
order to evict protesters camped in a downtown Toronto park on
Monday, giving the Occupy Toronto movement until midnight to
vacate the park it has held for more than a month.

Ontario Superior Court Judge David Brown ruled the eviction
order – issued by the city last Tuesday and challenged in court
by the protesters – did not violate the demonstrators’ freedom
of expression and peaceful assembly.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto officials have told Occupy Toronto protesters they must leave their encampment in a downtown park or risk forcible removal, raising the possibility of a police-backed eviction similar to the one in New York’s Zuccotti Park earlier on Tuesday.

However, the group vowed to stay in St. James Park – located just a few blocks from Toronto’s financial district – beyond the midnight deadline for clearing out.

TORONTO, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Manulife Financial
said it has received approval to establish operations in
Cambodia, which will expand the Canadian insurer’s reach into
an 11th Asian market.

Manulife said in a statement it had “approval in principle”
from Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance to set up a
wholly-owned life insurance operation in the Southeast Asian
country.

TORONTO, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Intact Financial Corp’s integration of its AXA Canada assets is going well,
and the company plans to press ahead with more domestic
acquisitions, the company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an investor presentation in Toronto, executives
reaffirmed the C$2.6 billion acquisition of French insurer
AXA’s Canadian assets should yield annual cost-savings of C$100
million ($98 million).

TORONTO, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Manulife Financial
turned in a steeper-than-expected loss in the third quarter, as
weak stock markets, low bond yields and an annual review in
actuarial assumptions held back the Canadian life insurer.

The company’s loss actually narrowed by 43 percent from a
year earlier, when the results were hurt by a similarly bleak
quarter for markets and a write-down related to its U.S.
business, which includes insurer John Hancock.

Nov 2 (Reuters) – Shares of Industrial Alliance Insurance
and Financial Services plunged nearly 8 percent on
Wednesday after the company reported an unexpected 28 percent
drop in quarterly profit on the back of weak markets and
claims-related losses.

The Quebec City-based life insurer and wealth manager
earned a net C$45.7 million, ($45 million), or 53 Canadian
cents a share, in the third quarter, ended Sept. 30.