Best Canadian Bank Stocks: The Big Six and Beyond

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Last updated: September 2026

Canadian bank stocks just delivered one of their strongest weeks in years. All six of Canada’s biggest banks reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 results the week of August 25, and every single one beat analyst estimates on an adjusted basis. Per Investing.com, each of the Big Six had already exceeded consensus for four consecutive quarters heading into the week, and Q3 2026 extends that run. You can see the full quarter-by-quarter breakdown in our Big Six Q3 2026 scorecard.

This page ranks the listed Canadian banking sector, not just the majors. The Big Six come first, ranked on Q3 results, capital, profitability and valuation. Then come the two listed challenger banks, an equal-weight ETF for owning the group without choosing between them, and one special situation: a bank that has already agreed to be bought. Every company figure below is taken from that company’s own earnings release, Supplementary Financial Information or Report to Shareholders for the quarter ended July 31, 2026. Price data in the stock blocks is sourced from Yahoo Finance and carries its own date.

The Big Six at a Glance

Rank	Bank	Ticker	Price	Dividend Yield	P/E (TTM)	CET1 Ratio	Q3 2026 Beat (Adj. EPS vs Consensus)
1	Royal Bank of Canada	RY.TO	$284.25	2.48%	17.87	13.5%	+$0.24 ($4.28 vs $4.04)
2	TD Bank Group	TD.TO	$168.68	2.67%	17.77	14.3%	+$0.32 ($2.77 vs $2.45)
3	National Bank of Canada	NA.TO	$213.18	2.48%	17.81	13.5%	+$0.21 ($3.39 vs $3.18)
4	CIBC	CM.TO	$158.68	2.69%	15.28	13.4%	+$0.23 ($2.73 vs $2.50)
5	Bank of Montreal	BMO.TO	$239.16	2.85%	19.45	13.0%	+$0.22 ($3.96 vs $3.74)
6	Bank of Nova Scotia	BNS.TO	$128.54	3.54%	16.83	13.1%	+$0.20 ($2.28 vs $2.08)

Price, dividend yield, and P/E table figures: Source: StockAnalysis, data as of August 28, 2026. Live Yahoo Finance data appears in each bank’s block below. CET1 ratios and Q3 beats as of the quarter ended July 31, 2026, from bank releases and Investing.com consensus (dated August 21, 2026), via our Q3 2026 scorecard.

Six is where the ranking starts, not where it ends. Picks 7 through 10 cover the two listed challenger banks, an equal-weight bank ETF, and Laurentian Bank, which agreed in December 2025 to be acquired and is ranked last for that reason. Canadian Western Bank is gone from the list entirely, because National Bank bought it, and the section on the names that left this list explains what happened to the rest.

How to Buy Canadian Bank Stocks

Every name on this page trades on the TSX, and any Canadian brokerage can buy them. We use Questrade® for our own tracking, and it supports all of the account types below. You can open a Questrade® account here. Wealthsimple is a reasonable beginner-friendly alternative if you want a simpler interface, and our comparison of the best investing apps in Canada sets out the trade-offs between them.

Four steps get you from nothing to owning a bank stock:

1. Choose the account type first, not last. Bank stocks are Canadian dividend payers, which suits a long-term registered account. An RRSP compounds decades of reinvested dividends tax-deferred. A TFSA works too, though many investors reserve TFSA room for higher-growth positions.
2. Open and verify it. Our guide to opening a brokerage account in Canada walks through the paperwork, the identity check and the account types side by side.
3. Fund it. An electronic funds transfer from your chequing account is the usual route, and the cash needs to settle before you can trade with it.
4. Buy the ticker. Search the symbol exactly as it appears in each heading below, for example RY.TO or BNS.TO, choose your order type, and confirm. If this is your first order, our walkthrough on how to buy your first stock covers what the confirmation screen is telling you.

This is a general framing, not personal advice. The right account depends on your situation.

What Makes Canadian Bank Stocks Different

Before the rankings, it is worth understanding why Canadian bank stocks occupy a category of their own on the TSX. Three structural features separate them from most other equities, and from most other banks in the world.

An oligopoly by design

Six banks dominate Canadian retail and commercial banking: RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, and National Bank. Canada’s regulator designates them as domestic systemically important banks, and together they hold the large majority of Canadian banking assets. High regulatory barriers keep new entrants rare, and consolidation runs in one direction: HSBC’s Canadian business was absorbed by RBC in 2024, and Canadian Western Bank was absorbed by National Bank. Fewer competitors means durable pricing power and returns on equity that most global banks cannot match, which is exactly what the Q3 2026 numbers on this page show, with group ROE running between 14.2% and 17.9%.

Regulation that protects shareholders too

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) sets capital requirements for the big banks well above international minimums, including a Domestic Stability Buffer that forces them to build extra capital in good times. That is the CET1 ratio you see quoted throughout this page. OSFI lowered that buffer to 3.0% of risk-weighted assets from 3.5%, effective June 19, 2026, which puts the CET1 minimum for the six designated banks at 11.0%. OSFI said the reduction gives them more flexibility to deploy capital in support of economic growth. The regime constrains how aggressively banks can lever up, and the trade-off works in a long-term shareholder’s favour: every Big Six bank carried a CET1 ratio of 13.0% or higher at July 31, 2026, well clear of the requirement, leaving room for dividends, buybacks, and acquisitions even in a downturn.

A dividend record measured in centuries

Canadian banks are dividend payers first. BMO has paid a dividend every year since 1829, the longest streak of any Canadian company, and Scotiabank has paid one since 1833. None of the Big Six cut its dividend through the 2008-09 global financial crisis, a period when many US and European banks eliminated theirs. Dividends can never be guaranteed, but the incentive structure, the capital rules, and the payout record all point the same way, which is why the banks anchor so many Canadian income portfolios.

What Are Canadian Bank Stocks?

A Canadian bank stock is a share in a federally regulated bank operating under the Bank Act, whose schedules define the three groups below. That legal frame is what separates a bank from every other lender on the TSX, and banks in Canada fall into three groups under it:

• Schedule I banks are domestic banks incorporated and federally licensed in Canada. Every name ranked on this page is one. VersaBank, for instance, describes its net interest margin as among the highest of the publicly traded Canadian Schedule I banks.
• Schedule II banks are Canadian-incorporated subsidiaries of foreign banks. HSBC Bank Canada was the best-known example until RBC bought it.
• Schedule III banks are branches of foreign banks authorised to do business in Canada rather than separately incorporated Canadian companies. They serve commercial and institutional clients and do not list shares here.

That gives four practical categories for an investor:

• The majors. OSFI designates six domestic systemically important banks: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank. They carry the extra capital buffer described above, and they are picks 1 through 6.
• The challengers. EQB Inc., VersaBank and Laurentian Bank are listed Schedule I banks operating outside the Big Six, with smaller balance sheets, narrower business mixes and less liquid shares. They are picks 7, 8 and 10.
• Foreign bank subsidiaries and branches. Rarely investable directly on the TSX. Where a foreign bank does list here, you are buying the parent, not a Canadian bank.
• The near-banks that are not bank stocks. Insurers such as Manulife and Sun Life are financials, not banks, and they show up in broad financials funds alongside the banks. Retailers can own banking businesses without being banks: Loblaw owned PC Financial until EQB acquired it on July 1, 2026, taking 7.2 million EQB shares in the deal. Mortgage investment corporations and non-bank lenders sit outside the Bank Act entirely and carry a different risk profile.

A few numbers that frame the sector:

• The Canadian Bankers Association describes itself as the voice of more than 60 domestic and foreign banks operating in Canada, so the Big Six sit at the top of a much longer list.
• CBA member banks employ nearly 300,000 people in Canada, per the same source.
• Exactly six of those banks are designated systemically important by OSFI, and that designation is what triggers the extra capital buffer.
• The Domestic Stability Buffer stands at 3.0% of risk-weighted assets as of June 19, 2026, implying an 11.0% CET1 minimum for those six, against actual ratios that have averaged above 13.5% in recent quarters.
• Statistics Canada publishes the sector’s balance sheet monthly in its chartered bank assets and liabilities series, which runs back to 1953 if you want to see how the industry’s shape has changed.

How We Ranked Them

Our ranking weighs four things: profitability and scale (return on equity, earnings growth), balance sheet strength (CET1 capital ratio), Q3 2026 execution (results versus expectations for the quarter ended July 31, 2026), and valuation relative to what you get. Dividend yield matters too, but a higher yield alone does not move a bank up the list. Reasonable investors can order these six differently depending on what they value, which is why the “which bank for which investor” section further down matters as much as the ranking itself.

Picks 7 through 10 are held to the same three numbers, taken from their own filings: what the bank earns on shareholders’ capital, how much capital it holds, and what it is setting aside for bad loans. Two things then override the fundamentals. A bank with a signed agreement to be taken over is capped at the bottom of the list no matter how it is performing, because the share price answers to the deal terms rather than to the business. And an ETF is ranked on what it costs and what it holds, not on earnings it does not have.

The three numbers that matter most for any bank stock

If you evaluate bank stocks yourself, these are the metrics this page leans on and what they tell you:

• CET1 ratio (capital strength). Common Equity Tier 1 capital measured against risk-weighted assets. It is the bank’s loss-absorbing cushion, and OSFI sets the floor. A higher CET1 means more capacity for dividends, buybacks, and deals; a ratio drifting toward the regulatory minimum means the opposite. The FAQ below covers this in more detail.
• ROE (profitability). Return on equity tells you how much profit the bank generates on shareholders’ capital. It is the cleanest way to compare banks of very different sizes: RBC’s 17.9% this quarter leads the group, and anything above the mid-teens is strong for a large bank.
• PCL (credit quality). Provisions for credit losses are the money a bank sets aside for loans it expects to sour. Rising provisions are the earliest public warning sign of credit stress, which is why each risk case below quotes them. Compare the direction quarter over quarter, not just the dollar amount, and check the PCL ratio (provisions as a share of loans) when comparing banks of different sizes.

Beyond those three, dividend history, valuation (P/E against the bank’s own growth), and the mix of business lines round out the picture. A bank earning more of its profit from wealth management and capital markets carries a different risk profile than one concentrated in domestic mortgages, and you will see that distinction drive several of the risk cases below.

The Big Six Q3 2026 Scorecard: Every Figure From the Banks’ Own Filings

This is the comparison a fund manager actually runs after earnings season: what each bank earned, what return it generated on shareholders’ capital, how much capital it is holding, what it is setting aside for bad loans, and what it pays you. Every number below is taken from each bank’s own Q3 2026 earnings release, Supplementary Financial Information or Report to Shareholders for the quarter ended July 31, 2026, not from a data aggregator.

All figures as reported by each bank for its fiscal Q3 2026 (quarter ended July 31, 2026), in Canadian dollars. Adjusted measures are each bank’s own non-GAAP figures. Sorted by adjusted return on equity. Scotiabank’s PCL ratio is its total PCL ratio; CIBC’s is its stated loan loss ratio.

How to read it. Three things stand out. First, look at the gap between adjusted and reported EPS at BMO: $3.96 against $2.38. That is not an accounting quirk to wave away, because BMO took a roughly $1.1 billion pre-tax goodwill charge on the sale of its Transportation Finance business, which is a real cost to shareholders even though it is excluded from the adjusted figure. Second, National Bank and CIBC lead on adjusted ROE at 16.8%, while TD carries the strongest capital position at 14.3% CET1. Return and safety are not the same ranking, and which one matters more depends on what you own the bank for. Third, provisions vary more than headlines suggest: Scotiabank is setting aside proportionally the most against loans and National Bank the least, which tells you something about where each bank lends.

1. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) — The Benchmark

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $285.20
• 52 Week Range: 199.27 – 306.38
• Market Cap: C$394.8B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 17.97
• EPS (TTM): 15.87
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $7.04 (2.47%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 25, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 13.5% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

Royal Bank is Canada’s largest company by market cap and the standard every other Canadian bank is measured against. Its fiscal Q3 2026 showed why: net income of $6.0 billion, up 11% from a year earlier, which the bank called a record. Adjusted EPS of $4.28 beat the $4.04 consensus, revenue of $18.54 billion topped the $18.07 billion estimate, and return on equity reached 17.9%, the best of the Big Six this quarter.

The growth engines were fee-based businesses. Wealth Management net income rose 32% to $1.44 billion, Capital Markets gained 16% to $1.54 billion, and Commercial Banking added 12%. RBC also returned $4.0 billion to shareholders in the quarter, split between $1.6 billion of buybacks and $2.4 billion of dividends, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.76 per share. Both are payments to shareholders, and if it is not obvious why a buyback counts as one, our guide to what a stock is and what you actually own works it through on RBC’s own Q3 filing. The quarter deserves more room than a ranking entry allows, and our deep dive on RBC’s Q3 2026 results and why scale is the moat takes the segment detail apart line by line.

Bull case: Unmatched scale and diversification, an ROE of 17.9% that leads the group, record earnings, and consistent capital returns through both dividends and buybacks.

Risk case: You pay for quality. RY carries a premium P/E and offers the lowest yield of the six, its Personal Banking segment slipped 1% this quarter, and provisions for credit losses rose 14% year over year to $1.00 billion. A Canadian consumer downturn would test those provisioning trends.

The chart says. As of September 4, 2026, RY closed at $291.48 against a 50-day moving average of $292.50 and a 200-day average of $249.83. That is a fraction below the shorter average and roughly 17% above the longer one, and the stock has been in a golden-cross regime since June 11, 2025, when the 50-day crossed above the 200-day with the shares at $168.57. Across RBC’s last eight golden crosses, the median move over the following 90 days was +6.1%, with 7 of the 8 positive, a best of +18.6% and a worst of -2.1%. Eight events is a small sample, so read that as directional rather than predictive.

RBC earnings scorecard: what the Q3 filings actually show

Every figure in this section comes from RBC’s own Q3 2026 earnings release, Supplementary Financial Information and Report to Shareholders for the quarter ended July 31, 2026, not from a data aggregator. RBC reported revenue of $18,538 million and net income of $6,024 million, up 11% year over year, with reported diluted EPS of $4.23 (up 13%) and adjusted diluted EPS of $4.28 (up 11%). Reported ROE was 17.9% and adjusted ROE 18.1%, the premium return that anchors the bank’s valuation. On our eight-quarter revenue series, that is 9.1% growth from the same quarter last year.

Where the earnings came from. The segment detail is the part a headline number hides. Wealth Management net income of $1,442 million rose 32% year over year and Capital Markets rose 16% to $1,544 million, while Commercial Banking added 12% to $936 million. Against that, Personal Banking slipped 1% to $1,923 million and Insurance fell 20% to $197 million. This was a quarter carried by markets-linked and advice businesses rather than by core Canadian retail banking, which is worth knowing, because those are the earnings streams most sensitive to market levels.

Capital and credit. RBC held a CET1 ratio of 13.5%, flat quarter over quarter and above regulatory requirements, with an LCR of 125%. Total provisions for credit losses were $1,000 million, up 14% from a year earlier, and the PCL-on-loans ratio was 0.36%, up 1 basis point both year over year and sequentially. Total allowance for credit losses stood at $7,788 million. Credit is normalising rather than deteriorating sharply: provisions are rising, but from a low base and at a pace the capital position absorbs comfortably.

The dividend. RBC declared $1.76 per common share for the quarter, up from $1.64 the prior quarter, a 7.3% sequential increase, against a payout ratio of 41%. A payout ratio in the low 40s leaves room for the dividend to keep growing without straining capital.

What the street expects next. Consensus estimates (street data, not company guidance) for RBC’s current fiscal year have moved from $15.92 to $16.13 per share over the past 90 days, a 1.3% upward revision, with 11 estimates raised against 3 cut in the last 30 days. Analysts model roughly 9.5% EPS growth and 4.9% revenue growth for next fiscal year. Rising estimates after a reported beat is the combination that tends to matter: the bank delivered, and the people forecasting it responded by raising the bar rather than lowering it.

RBC did not publish segment-level guidance with these results (it defers strategic priorities and outlook to its annual report), so there is no company forecast to quote here, and we will not invent one. On the quarter itself, CEO Dave McKay said the results “showcase the strength of our diversified business and our robust balance sheet” and pointed to “delivering a premium ROE quarter after quarter.”

Source: Royal Bank of Canada Q3 2026 Earnings Release, Supplementary Financial Information and Report to Shareholders (quarter ended July 31, 2026), retrieved from rbc.com investor relations. Consensus estimate figures via Yahoo Finance.

2. TD Bank Group (TD.TO) — The Comeback Quarter

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $167.72
• 52 Week Range: 105.95 – 175.33
• Market Cap: C$274.8B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 17.94
• EPS (TTM): 9.35
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $4.48 (2.67%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 08, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 14.3% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

TD delivered the largest earnings beat of the Big Six in Q3 2026. Adjusted EPS of $2.77 cleared the $2.45 consensus by $0.32, on adjusted net income of $4,671 million, up 21% from a year earlier. Reported net income rose 38% to $4,615 million, and revenue of roughly $16.9 billion sailed past the $15.17 billion consensus. Reported ROE jumped to 15.8% from 11.3% a year earlier.

Every one of TD’s four operating segments grew net income year over year, including U.S. Banking, up 12% on an adjusted basis, and Wholesale Banking, up 76% adjusted. CEO Raymond Chun pointed to record earnings in the Canadian businesses and Wholesale Banking. TD also enters the fourth quarter with a CET1 ratio of 14.3%, the highest capital cushion of the six. The stock’s 52-week range in the data block above tells the recovery story: the shares trade far above their 52-week low. The tension in this bank is capital strength against an unfinished compliance cleanup, and our deep dive on TD’s Q3 2026 results, capital strength against the cleanup, sets out both sides.

Bull case: The strongest Q3 beat of the group, broad-based segment growth, industry-leading capital at 14.3% CET1, and a rebuilt U.S. story after a difficult stretch.

Risk case: The U.S. regulatory file is not closed. TD’s release put expected U.S. BSA/AML remediation costs at approximately US$550 million for fiscal 2026, and no buyback was announced with the results. After a powerful run off its 52-week low, the recovery is no longer a secret, and the shares now price in continued clean execution.

The chart says. TD closed at $168.24 on September 4, 2026, against a 50-day average of $168.90 and a 200-day average of $143.56: effectively sitting on the short-term average, roughly 17% above the long-term one. The current golden cross dates to January 22, 2025, when the shares were $77.43. TD has the longest crossover history of the group and the weakest record in it. Across its last 11 golden crosses the median 90-day move was +0.9%, with 7 of the 11 positive, a best of +21.7% and a worst of -19.5%. On this stock, the signal has told you very little.

TD earnings scorecard: what the Q3 filings show

Every figure here comes from TD’s own Q3 2026 earnings news release, Supplemental Financial Information and Report to Shareholders for the quarter ended July 31, 2026. TD reported revenue of $16,885 million and net income of $4,615 million, with reported diluted EPS of $2.74 and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.77. Reported ROE was 15.8% and adjusted ROE 16.0%. On TD’s own eight-quarter series, revenue grew 10.4% from the same quarter a year earlier.

One note on that chart: the $22.9 billion spike in fiscal Q2 2025 is not an error. TD sold its entire remaining equity investment in Schwab on February 12, 2025, and the gain on that sale lands in that quarter. Comparisons that cross it will look distorted, which is exactly why the year-over-year figure above uses Q3 against Q3.

Where the earnings came from. Every operating segment grew. Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking earned $2,095 million, up 7% year over year. U.S. Banking, the segment TD renamed from U.S. Retail in Q1 2026, earned $1,074 million, up 41% reported and 12% adjusted. Wealth Management and Insurance earned $841 million, up 20%, and Wholesale Banking earned $743 million, up 87% reported and 76% adjusted. Corporate posted a net loss of $138 million. The breadth here is the point: this was not one segment carrying the quarter.

Capital, credit and the dividend. TD held a CET1 ratio of 14.3%, the strongest capital position among the Big Six, with an LCR of 133%. Provisions for credit losses were $917 million, a PCL-on-loans ratio of 0.37%, against a total allowance of $9,559 million. The board approved a dividend of $1.12 per share on August 26, 2026, payable October 31 to shareholders of record October 9, up from $1.08.

The U.S. remediation file is not closed. TD raised its fiscal 2026 U.S. BSA/AML remediation guidance to approximately US$550 million pre-tax, from US$500 million, citing lookback costs, and recorded US$125 million of remediation cost within U.S. Banking expenses this quarter. TD expects the suspicious-activity-report lookback to finish in calendar 2027, and FINTRAC’s review of its enterprise AML remediation remains ongoing. This is the single clearest risk on the page: the costs are quantified and rising, and the timeline runs into next year.

What the street expects next. Consensus for TD’s current fiscal year has moved from $9.40 to $9.72 per share over 90 days, a 3.5% upward revision, with 13 estimates raised and none cut in the last 30 days, the cleanest revision picture of the group. Analysts model roughly 11.3% EPS growth next fiscal year. (Consensus figures are street data, not TD guidance.)

Source: TD Bank Group Q3 2026 Earnings News Release, Supplemental Financial Information and Report to Shareholders (quarter ended July 31, 2026), retrieved from TD investor relations. Consensus estimate figures via Yahoo Finance.

3. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) — The Growth Bank, Now With Scale

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $212.09
• 52 Week Range: 146.73 – 237.13
• Market Cap: C$81.7B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 17.73
• EPS (TTM): 11.96
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $5.28 (2.49%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: September 27, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 13.5% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

National Bank is the smallest of the Big Six by market cap and the one growing fastest right now. Q3 2026 adjusted EPS of $3.39 rose 26% from a year earlier and beat the $3.18 consensus, on revenue of $4,053 million versus a $3.86 billion estimate. Net income climbed 23% to $1,307 million, ROE hit 16.1%, and the efficiency ratio improved to 51.6% from 55.8%, a meaningful gain in operating discipline. On our eight-quarter series from the bank’s own filings, revenue is up 17.5% year over year, the fastest of the six, and National Bank has beaten the street’s adjusted EPS estimate in each of the last four quarters.

The Canadian Western Bank acquisition has turned a Quebec-centric bank into a national one, and the integration is showing up in the numbers as planned charges ($55 million net of tax this quarter in integration costs and CWB-related intangible amortization) rather than surprises. Capital Markets net income rose 32% and Wealth Management 21%. How much of the growth is CWB and how much is the underlying bank is the question that decides whether this multiple holds, and we work through it in our analysis of National Bank’s Q3 2026 results and the CWB boost.

Bull case: The best earnings growth rate of the six this quarter (adjusted EPS up 26%), rising ROE, improving efficiency, dividends compounding at 9.3% a year on the filing series, and a genuine national footprint for the first time via CWB.

Risk case: Integration risk is real until it is finished, and the bank’s net interest margin compressed to 2.19% from 2.25% a year earlier while provisions rose to $246 million from $203 million. After a strong multi-year run, expectations are elevated, and a beat alone is no longer enough to move the stock.

The chart says. National Bank closed at $217.91 on September 4, 2026, about 2.9% under its 50-day average of $224.34 and roughly 12% above its 200-day average of $194.23. It has been in a golden-cross regime since June 20, 2025, when the crossing happened at $130.56. National Bank has the strongest crossover record of the Big Six and the smallest sample behind it: across its last six golden crosses the median 90-day move was +13.2%, 5 of the 6 were positive, the best was +19.2% and the worst was flat. Six events is not enough to build a rule on, so treat it as directional rather than predictive.

4. CIBC (CM.TO) — The Value Pick

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $158.91
• 52 Week Range: 109.29 – 172.87
• Market Cap: C$144.3B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 15.25
• EPS (TTM): 10.42
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $4.28 (2.69%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: September 27, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 13.4% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

CIBC carries the lowest P/E of the Big Six, and its Q3 2026 results make that multiple look conservative. Adjusted EPS of $2.73 beat the $2.50 consensus by $0.23, adjusted net income rose 26% year over year to $2.65 billion, and adjusted ROE reached 16.8%, second only to RBC this quarter. Revenue of $8.37 billion grew 15% and topped the $8.02 billion consensus. On the filing series, revenue is up 15.4% year over year and dividends have compounded at 5.6% a year.

Reported EPS of $2.47 came in below consensus, but the gap was $269 million in items of note, primarily charges tied to the announced sale of CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited, a portfolio-simplifying move. Under the hood, Capital Markets net income jumped 34% and Canadian Personal and Business Banking grew 17%. The bank declared a quarterly dividend of $1.07 per share. Full numbers are in our RBC and CIBC Q3 coverage.

Bull case: The cheapest valuation of the six paired with 26% adjusted profit growth and a 16.8% adjusted ROE. Provisions were nearly flat year over year (up just $5 million to $564 million), a sign of steady credit quality.

Risk case: CIBC remains the most Canada-concentrated of the large banks, with heavy exposure to domestic households and mortgages. If the Canadian housing market or consumer credit weakens, CIBC feels it sooner than more geographically diversified peers. The Caribbean sale also trims future revenue along with complexity.

The chart says. CIBC closed at $162.75 on September 4, 2026, about 1% below its 50-day average of $164.50 and roughly 14% above its 200-day average of $143.11. The golden cross now in force fired on May 22, 2025 at $89.02. Across CIBC’s last seven golden crosses the median 90-day move was +5.1%, with 6 of the 7 positive, a best of +22.0% and a worst of -5.9%. That is the second most consistent record of the Big Six, on a seven-event sample that is too small to be more than directional.

5. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) — Strong Engine, Messy Headline

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $242.47
• 52 Week Range: 168.92 – 259.2
• Market Cap: C$168.5B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 19.76
• EPS (TTM): 12.27
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $6.84 (2.82%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 29, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 13.0% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

BMO’s Q3 2026 is the clearest example this earnings season of why you check whether a headline number is reported or adjusted. Adjusted EPS of $3.96 rose 22% year over year and beat the $3.74 consensus. Reported EPS of $2.38 missed, because of $1.1 billion in after-tax adjusting items, mainly a $962 million charge (primarily goodwill) tied to the announced sale of its Transportation Finance and Vendor Finance businesses. The underlying businesses performed: Capital Markets net income of $645 million versus $442 million a year earlier, Canadian P&C up to $980 million from $849 million, and U.S. Banking up to $868 million from $767 million. On the filing series, revenue grew 10.1% year over year and dividends have compounded at 7.7% a year. Details in our BMO and Scotiabank Q3 coverage.

Capital returns are active. BMO held its dividend at $1.71 per quarter (up $0.08 from a year earlier) and announced an intention to repurchase up to 25 million shares, roughly 3.6% of the public float, subject to OSFI and TSX approval, expected to commence on or around September 8, 2026.

Bull case: Adjusted EPS up 22%, provisions for credit losses down to $722 million from $797 million a year earlier, a large buyback in the pipeline, and a simplified portfolio once the divestitures close.

Risk case: BMO carries the highest P/E of the six and the lowest CET1 ratio at 13.0% (down from 13.5% a year earlier). Its large U.S. commercial book ties results to the U.S. credit cycle, and divestiture charges made this quarter’s reported earnings the weakest-looking of the group even though the adjusted engine ran well.

The chart says. BMO closed at $242.76 on September 4, 2026, roughly 2% below its 50-day average of $248.10 and about 17% above its 200-day average of $208.27. This is the oldest golden cross on the page: the 50-day crossed above the 200-day on October 31, 2024 at $118.69 and has stayed there since. The record behind the signal is thin, though. Across BMO’s last eight golden crosses the median 90-day move was +1.4%, 5 of the 8 were positive, and the worst was -28.7%. The trend has been far more useful here than the crossing that started it.

6. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) — Highest Yield, Real Progress

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $129.63
• 52 Week Range: 87.38 – 131.72
• Market Cap: C$158.0B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 16.95
• EPS (TTM): 7.65
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $4.56 (3.52%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 05, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

CET1 ratio: 13.1% as of July 31, 2026, from the bank’s Q3 release.

Scotiabank ranks sixth here, but this is the strongest sixth-place bank this page has ever listed. Q3 2026 was, in the bank’s own words, “a record quarter for the Bank.” Adjusted EPS of $2.28 beat the $2.08 consensus, revenue of $10.54 billion topped the $9.97 billion estimate, and adjusted ROE of 14.2% exceeded the bank’s own 14% target. Every business line delivered: Global Banking and Markets earned a record $647 million (up 37%), Global Wealth a record $518 million (up 23%), Canadian Banking $1.07 billion (up 12%), and International Banking $766 million (up 8%). Revenue on the filing series is up 11.1% year over year, though dividend growth has been the slowest of the six at a 4.2% compound rate.

For income investors, BNS pays the highest dividend yield of the Big Six. Whether that yield is a bargain or a warning is the whole argument, and our Scotiabank deep dive on the discount question takes both sides seriously.

Bull case: The best yield of the six, a record quarter with every segment growing, an ROE now above the bank’s own target, and the shares still trading at a below-average P/E.

Risk case: Scotiabank runs the highest credit costs of the group, with provisions of $1.08 billion this quarter and a PCL ratio of 56 basis points, and its international banking footprint adds emerging-market and currency exposure the other five do not carry to the same degree. The turnaround has momentum, but it has to keep proving itself quarter by quarter.

The chart says. Scotiabank is the exception among the majors. It closed at $129.65 on September 4, 2026, about 4% above its 50-day average of $124.17 and roughly 21% above its 200-day average of $107.11, the widest gap over the long-term average of any Big Six name. Its golden cross dates to June 26, 2025 at $70.89. The precedent is unremarkable: across the last nine golden crosses the median 90-day move was +3.1%, only 5 of the 9 were positive, and the worst was -8.6%. Scotiabank is also the only one of the six where the median move after a death cross was negative, at -0.2% across eight events.

7. EQB Inc. (EQB.TO) — The Challenger That Just Bought PC Financial

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $129.60
• 52 Week Range: 83.93 – 150.32
• Market Cap: C$5.5B
• PE Ratio (TTM): N/A
• EPS (TTM): -0.28
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $2.52 (1.94%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: September 14, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

EQB is the first name past the Big Six, and its Q3 2026 is the most misread set of numbers in Canadian banking right now. The quarter ended July 31, 2026 was EQB’s first to include PC Financial, which closed on July 1, 2026, so only one month of the acquired business is in the figures. On a reported basis EQB posted a net loss of $127.3 million and diluted loss per share of $3.39. On an adjusted basis it earned $81.3 million and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.12, up 2% year over year (EQB Q3 2026 earnings release, reconciliation table; Report to Shareholders p.15). Those two numbers describe the same quarter and must not be blended.

The bridge between them is a single line: a $219.1 million Day-1 provision for credit losses recognised on the acquired PC Financial credit card receivables. Accounting requires a lender to book expected lifetime losses on a purchased loan book the moment it lands, which produces a large charge in the first quarter of ownership regardless of how those cards ultimately perform. Reported provisions for the quarter totalled $303.0 million; adjusted PCL was $83.9 million, itself up 147% year over year (release, headline table).

The rest of the quarter reads well. Reported revenue was $391.3 million, up 28% year over year and 29% sequentially (release reconciliation table), with adjusted revenue of $393.0 million. Adjusted return on equity was 10.3% and the adjusted efficiency ratio 50.1%, against management’s stated low-50s target for 2026 (release). Book value per share reached $86.86. CET1 stood at 13.4%, down 20 basis points from the prior quarter and up 10 basis points from October 31, 2025 (Report to Shareholders p.35 and p.36). EQB declared a dividend of $0.63 per share on August 26, 2026, up 15% from the same quarter last year (Report to Shareholders p.37), and on our filing-based series the dividend has compounded at 20.8% a year, the fastest growth rate on this page.

Why it ranks seventh, not higher. EQB is not one of OSFI’s six systemically important banks, its adjusted ROE of 10.3% is below every Big Six bank’s, its net allowance for credit losses has jumped to 95 basis points of total loan assets from 46 basis points a quarter earlier, and it has beaten street consensus in only 2 of the last 4 quarters, with the current-year estimate cut 2.8% over the past 90 days. That is a genuinely different risk profile from the majors.

The macro backdrop, in the company’s words. EQB’s own outlook section says operating environment headwinds “are expected to persist through the near term, reflecting macroeconomic conditions, housing market softness and elevated credit risk pressures persisting through the remainder of 2026 before gradually stabilizing” (Report to Shareholders p.16). A lender concentrated in alternative mortgages says that about its own market, and the reader should weigh it accordingly.

Bull case: PC Financial structurally changes the business, lifting assets under management and administration to $151 billion and adding unsecured card revenue to a book that was heavily housing-linked. Integration is running to plan with $15 million of annualised cost savings booked against a $30 million run-rate target, adjusted pre-provision pre-tax income rose 36% year over year to $196.2 million, and the dividend keeps growing at a double-digit rate.

Risk case: Credit is the whole story. Adjusted PCL is up 147% year over year, total allowances have more than doubled to $485.4 million, and the acquired card portfolio is unsecured lending, a product EQB has not run at this scale before. Capital ratios fell across the board this quarter (Tier 1 down 70 basis points to 15.1%), the company is guiding to no numeric 2027 targets until a December investor day, and EQB does not disclose a liquidity coverage ratio the way the Big Six do.

The chart says. EQB closed at $132.92 on September 4, 2026, about 2.9% below its 50-day average of $136.85 and roughly 14% above its 200-day average of $116.68. Its golden cross is the newest on this page, from January 14, 2026 at $101.85. The record is the weakest kind: across EQB’s last seven golden crosses the median 90-day move was +3.7%, only 4 of the 7 were positive, and the range ran from +50.8% to -23.6%. Seven events with that spread is noise, not a signal. The 180-day record is better (median +18.5%, 5 of 6 positive) but rests on an even smaller sample.

8. VersaBank (VBNK.TO) — The Branchless Bank Scaling in the US

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $31.44
• 52 Week Range: 15.8 – 34.0
• Market Cap: C$1.0B
• PE Ratio (TTM): 29.94
• EPS (TTM): 1.05
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $0.10 (0.32%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 08, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

VersaBank has no branches. It funds itself through deposit brokers and lends through a business-to-business structured receivable program, and that model is currently scaling faster than anything else in Canadian banking. Total assets reached $6.875 billion at July 31, 2026, a company-stated record and up 26% year over year, and the bank said assets passed $7 billion after quarter end (Q3 2026 press release, Consolidated Financial Summary; Q3 2026 MD&A). Revenue was $38.8 million, net income $10.1 million (up 53%) and adjusted core net income $12.3 million (up 27%), with reported diluted EPS of $0.31 and adjusted core diluted EPS of $0.38.

Growth is coming from the United States. Digital Banking USA earned $3.9 million in the quarter against $437 thousand a year earlier, while Digital Banking Canada earned $6.6 million (press release, Segmented Financial Summary). US structured receivable program assets stood at US$793 million at July 31, 2026, and the bank has set a target of adding at least US$3 billion of new US fundings in fiscal 2027, including a second program with an ECN Capital subsidiary expected to contribute at least US$300 million annually. Our coverage of VersaBank’s Q3 fiscal 2026 results works through the segment numbers in more detail.

Credit was unusually quiet: VersaBank recorded a $229 thousand recovery of credit losses rather than a provision, equal to -0.02% of average credit assets against a 12-quarter average of 0.03%. That reflects the collateral structure of the receivable program rather than a call on the credit cycle. What we expected going into the quarter, and what actually landed, is compared in our VersaBank Q3 earnings preview.

Bull case: Records on credit assets, revenue and net interest income; a US business that has gone from immaterial to a third of segment profit in a year; net interest margin of 2.19% (2.44% on credit assets) that the bank says ranks among the highest of Canada’s publicly traded Schedule I banks; and operating leverage in a model with no branch network to feed. A corporate reorganisation under a new Delaware holding company had its Form S-4 declared effective on August 4, 2026, with a shareholder meeting set for September 16, 2026.

Risk case: VersaBank earns the lowest returns of any bank ranked here, at 7.14% ROE and 8.72% adjusted core ROE, and carries the thinnest capital, with CET1 of 11.47%. The dividend is nominal at $0.025 per share, declared September 3, 2026 for the quarter ending October 31, 2026. The reorganisation still needs shareholder and regulatory approval from both the Minister of Finance in Canada and the Federal Reserve, and it cost $2.5 million in the quarter. The Fed’s approval of VersaBank’s 2024 US bank acquisition also requires it to exit its cybersecurity businesses, a deadline extended in August 2026 to August 30, 2027. The DRTC segment lost $578 thousand in the quarter.

The chart says. VersaBank closed at $30.84 on September 4, 2026, about 9% above its 50-day average of $28.38 and roughly 31% above its 200-day average of $23.57, the widest spread of any name on this page. The golden cross behind that run fired on October 21, 2025 at $16.45. The precedent, though, is a coin flip: across the last eight golden crosses the median 90-day move was -1.8%, exactly 4 of the 8 were positive, and the range ran from +40.5% to -28.9%. On a stock this volatile the crossover has carried no useful information, and the extension above both averages is the more relevant fact.

9. BMO Equal Weight Banks Index ETF (ZEB) — Own All Six Without Choosing

ZEB exists for the reader who has read everything above and still does not want to pick. It holds the Big Six at equal weights and rebalances periodically, so National Bank counts as much as Royal Bank, which is the opposite of what a market-cap-weighted fund does. BMO charges a 0.28% management fee on it.

Be clear about the trade. An equal-weight bank fund cannot beat the best bank in the group, and it will not: it owns the worst one too. What it removes is the risk of picking the worst one, and the work of tracking six sets of quarterly filings. It also charges a fee that owning the shares directly does not, and the fee compounds against you over the decades that suit bank stocks best.

We are not quoting a distribution yield or fund size here. Neither could be confirmed from BMO’s own materials in our research pass, and we do not publish fund figures sourced from aggregators. The fee and the methodology are verified from the issuer, and those are the two things that decide whether this fund suits you.

The chart says. ZEB closed at $75.47 on September 4, 2026, a fraction below its 50-day average of $75.79 and roughly 16% above its 200-day average of $64.97. The fund has been in a golden-cross regime since May 15, 2025, when the crossing happened at $41.43. Across its last seven golden crosses the median 90-day move was +4.3%, with 5 of the 7 positive, a best of +22.3% and a worst of -7.7%. That is the sector’s own average behaviour, which is exactly what an equal-weight sector fund is for.

Who it suits: an investor who wants Canadian bank exposure as one line item in a portfolio, or who is buying monthly and does not want to split small contributions six ways. Who it does not: anyone with a view. If you have read this page and formed one, expressing it through a fund that owns all six dilutes it to nothing.

10. Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB.TO) — A Takeover, Not a Thesis

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
• Price: $40.64
• 52 Week Range: 31.69 – 40.78
• Market Cap: C$1.8B
• PE Ratio (TTM): N/A
• EPS (TTM): -0.49
• Earnings Date: N/A
• Forward Dividend & Yield: $1.88 (4.63%)
• Ex-Dividend Date: September 30, 2026
• Data as of 2026-09-11.

Laurentian ranks last, and the ranking is the analysis. On December 2, 2025 the bank agreed to be acquired by Fairstone Bank of Canada for $40.50 per share in cash, total consideration of approximately $1.9 billion, a premium of roughly 20% to the previous day’s close of $33.76. Shareholders approved the required by-law amendment on February 5, 2026 with 98.8% of votes cast in favour. The Competition Bureau concluded its review on May 8, 2026, and on June 26, 2026 the federal Minister of Finance approved the transaction, with OSFI approvals also received. The parties expect to close by late 2026 (Q3 2026 Report to Shareholders, p.8 to p.10).

The market has already priced that. LB closed at $40.62 on September 4, 2026, twelve cents above the $40.50 cash price. Whatever Laurentian’s business does from here, the share price answers to the deal terms and to the risk that the deal does not complete. There is no upside case beyond the $40.50, and the technical picture is moot: the 50-day sits at $40.29 and the 200-day at $39.27, both effectively pinned to a price that a contract set nine months ago. Reading moving averages on a stock in this state tells you nothing.

What the quarter actually showed. The business underneath is deteriorating, which is context worth having on how the bank ended up here. Reported net income for the quarter ended July 31, 2026 was $1.5 million, down 96% from $37.5 million a year earlier, and because preferred dividends of $5.2 million exceeded that, common shareholders saw a diluted loss per share of $0.08 against earnings of $0.73 a year earlier (Report to Shareholders p.1 and p.11). Adjusted net income was $28.0 million and adjusted diluted EPS $0.51, down from $0.78 (p.1). Provisions for credit losses rose to $25.6 million from $11.1 million, taking the PCL ratio to 28 basis points of average loans from 12 (p.4 and p.12). The efficiency ratio was 91.0% reported and 76.1% adjusted (p.4). CET1 stood at 11.2%, the lowest on this page (p.4). The dividend was held at $0.47, unchanged from both the prior quarter and the prior year, and the board terminated the dividend reinvestment plan effective September 30, 2026 (p.17).

The five-year picture is why this bank is being sold.

Adjusted earnings per share went $4.57, $5.19, $4.52, $3.57, $3.00 across fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025, a decline of roughly 42% from the fiscal 2022 peak. Reported return on common equity over the same five years ran 1.9%, 8.9%, 6.6%, -0.7% and 4.9%, never once reaching what the weakest Big Six bank produced in a single quarter this year. The dividend went $1.60, $1.78, $1.86, $1.88, $1.88 and then stopped growing. A five-year slide like that, on a bank with a 11.2% capital ratio and no scale advantage, is the arithmetic behind a board agreeing to sell.

What is still moving. The sale of Laurentian’s retail and SME portfolios to National Bank was still outstanding at July 31, 2026. A separate syndicated loan sale to National Bank closed on February 17, 2026, on $705.7 million of outstanding principal for $646.2 million of cash, a $50.0 million discount that produced a $22.5 million pre-tax loss in Q2 2026. Total commercial loans reached $19.0 billion, up 6% since October 31, 2025, while residential mortgages fell $1.0 billion, the shift toward specialty commercial banking that the December 2025 plan set out.

Who this suits: an investor who understands they are buying a cash payout with completion risk rather than a bank. Who it does not: anyone looking for income, growth or a long-term holding. On completion the common shares are expected to be delisted from the TSX, with the Series 13 preferred shares continuing to trade.

You Have the Ranking. Here Is Where to Act on It

That is the whole listed Canadian banking sector, ranked, from the largest company in the country to a bank in the last weeks of its independence. If you have decided which of these you want to own, the practical step is an account that can buy them, since all of them trade on the TSX. We use Questrade® for our own tracking and you can open a Questrade® account here.

If this would be your first investing account and you want the simplest possible interface to start with, our Wealthsimple review sets out what it does well and where it is limited.

Which Canadian Bank Stock Fits Which Investor?

There is no single best bank stock for every portfolio. Here is how we would frame the choice, based on the numbers above (data as of August 28, 2026):

• You want one core holding and maximum quality: Royal Bank. Largest, most profitable (17.9% ROE in Q3), most diversified. You accept the lowest yield of the six for it.
• You want income first: Scotiabank, at a 3.54% yield, is the highest payer of the Big Six. Pair its yield with the risk case above.
• You want value: CIBC at a 15.28 P/E with 26% adjusted profit growth is the cheapest earnings stream on this page.
• You want growth: National Bank grew adjusted EPS 26% this quarter and is still digesting an acquisition that expands its runway. TD is the alternative growth story if the U.S. rebuild keeps delivering.
• You want capital-return torque: BMO, with a buyback of up to 25 million shares expected to commence on or around September 8, 2026, and RBC, which returned $4.0 billion to shareholders in Q3 alone.
• You want the strongest balance sheet: TD, at a 14.3% CET1 ratio, holds the largest capital cushion of the six.
• You want the fastest-growing dividend and can live with credit noise: EQB, growing its dividend 15% year over year while absorbing a card portfolio and the provisions that came with it. This is the highest-variance name on the list that is still a going concern.
• You want a small, fast-growing balance sheet: VersaBank, up 26% in total assets year over year, on the lowest returns and the thinnest capital here. Size the position accordingly.
• You want the sector without choosing: ZEB, at a 0.28% management fee, equal weights across all six.
• You want a cash payout rather than a bank: Laurentian, trading around a $40.50 takeover price. That is an arbitrage position with completion risk, not an investment in banking.

Many Canadian investors simply own two or three of the Big Six, or all six through an equal-weight bank ETF, rather than picking one winner. Both approaches beat waiting for the perfect entry point that never announces itself.

The Names That Left This List

Part of why this ranking is shorter than it was three years ago is that the buyers came for the mid-tier. Four names that a Canadian bank-stock list used to include are gone, all through completed transactions:

• Canadian Western Bank, acquired by National Bank. Announced June 11, 2024 as a share exchange at 0.450 of a National Bank share per CWB share, roughly $5.3 billion of equity consideration and about $5.6 billion of total equity value. National Bank completed the acquisition on February 3, 2025, CWB shares were delisted from the TSX after February 4, 2025, and the two entities amalgamated on March 1, 2025. The CWB integration costs in National Bank’s Q3 numbers above are the tail of this deal.
• HSBC Bank Canada, acquired by RBC. RBC completed the $13.5 billion all-cash purchase on March 28, 2024, describing it as the largest completed bank acquisition in Canadian history, bringing roughly 4,500 employees and 780,000 clients across. HSBC Canada branches began operating as RBC locations on April 1, 2024.
• Home Capital Group, taken private by Smith Financial Corporation on August 31, 2023 at $44.28 cash per share, after a base price of $44.00 escalated by a daily accrual. The shares were delisted and the company ceased to be a reporting issuer.
• First National Financial, taken private by funds managed by Birch Hill Equity Partners and Brookfield, with founders Stephen Smith and Moray Tawse keeping minority stakes. Announced July 27, 2025 and completed October 22, 2025 at $48.00 cash per share, roughly $2.2 billion for the shares acquired. The common shares were delisted; the Class A Preference Shares Series 1 and 2 remain listed on the TSX.

Four transactions in roughly two years, in one direction. Every one of them moved assets from a mid-sized lender to a larger owner, which is the mechanism behind the oligopoly described at the top of this page rather than a coincidence alongside it. And the list is not finished: pick 10 above is the next one out the door.

Are Canadian Bank Stocks a Buy Right Now?

Three lenses, and they do not all point the same way.

The macro lens. The Bank of Canada’s target for the overnight rate is 2.25%, held unchanged at the September 2, 2026 announcement, continuing a pattern of stability since January 2026. Our report on the September rate hold covers what the Bank said. Two scheduled decisions remain in 2026, on October 28 and December 9. A stable policy rate takes one variable out of the net interest margin question for the fourth quarter, without removing the credit question.

The technical lens. As of September 4, 2026, all ten names on this page traded above their 200-day moving average, which is unusual breadth for a sector. Seven of the ten closed below their 50-day average, none by more than 3%: Royal Bank, TD, CIBC, BMO, National Bank, ZEB and EQB. Scotiabank, VersaBank and Laurentian closed above theirs. A group of stocks trading just under a short-term average and well above a long-term one is what a pause after a run looks like, not a broken trend. That is a description, not a forecast.

The precedent lens, computed. We ran every 50-day and 200-day crossing in each bank’s price history to see whether the golden cross has actually meant anything for Canadian banks. It has not meant much:

Computed by bestcanadianstocks.ca from daily closing prices through September 4, 2026. Samples of six to eleven events per bank are small, so these distributions are directional rather than predictive.

Read the last column, because it is the one that matters. At five of the six banks, the median 90-day move after a death cross was positive, and at BMO and National Bank it was larger than the move after a golden cross. A signal that produces similar outcomes whether it fires bullish or bearish is not a signal. What the data does support is narrower and more useful: these stocks have spent most of their history above the 200-day, and the 200-day has behaved more like a floor than a trigger.

The verdict. Every one of the six majors beat adjusted estimates for the quarter ended July 31, 2026, group ROE ran between 14.2% and 17.9%, and every CET1 ratio sat at 13.0% or higher against an 11.0% requirement. That is genuine strength, not a story. Against it, valuations sit well above their 52-week lows, so today’s buyer is paying for demonstrated strength rather than distress, and provisions are rising at most of the group. Nothing here is guaranteed, and a bank stock bought at a high multiple after a strong run can still be a good business and a poor entry. Position sizing and a long horizon matter more than timing.

Are Canadian Bank Stocks a Safe Investment?

Start with the distinction that catches people out. The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation insures deposits, up to $100,000 of principal and interest per eligible category per member institution, across eight separately protected categories. It does not insure shares. Owning a bank’s stock gives you none of that protection. If you hold both a savings account and shares at the same bank, the account is covered and the shares are not, and that is the correct design: a shareholder is paid after depositors, which is the whole point of the capital stack the CET1 ratio measures.

What is genuinely durable about these businesses:

• Capital far above the requirement. Every Big Six bank held CET1 of 13.0% or higher at July 31, 2026, against OSFI’s 11.0% minimum for systemically important banks after the June 2026 buffer reduction.
• A regulator that forces capital building in good times, through the Domestic Stability Buffer described earlier, and can release it in bad ones.
• A payout record measured in centuries. BMO since 1829, Scotiabank since 1833, and no Big Six dividend cut through 2008-09.
• Diversified earnings. The quarter above was carried by wealth management and capital markets at several banks, which is exactly the diversification that lets a bank keep earning when lending margins compress.
• Oligopoly economics. Group ROE between 14.2% and 17.9% in a single quarter is not normal for global banking, and it is a direct product of the market structure.

What can actually go wrong:

• The credit cycle. Provisions are rising: RBC’s up 14% year over year, Scotiabank’s PCL ratio at 56 basis points, Laurentian’s at 28 basis points from 12, EQB’s adjusted PCL up 147%. Provisions are a forecast of losses, and forecasts get revised.
• Concentration in the Canadian consumer. CIBC is the clearest example, but every bank here lends heavily into the same housing market and the same labour market.
• Rate sensitivity. National Bank’s net interest margin compressed to 2.19% from 2.25% in a single year. Margins move with the curve, not with management.
• Single-name accidents. TD’s US remediation costs of roughly US$550 million for fiscal 2026 and BMO’s $1.1 billion of after-tax adjusting items both happened this year, at two of the safest banks in the country.
• Correlation. Owning four Canadian banks is not four bets. It is one bet on one economy, held four ways.

For most Canadian portfolios the banks function as the ballast rather than the engine, which is the role blue chips play generally. If that is the job you are hiring these stocks for, our best Canadian blue chip stocks page covers the wider set of names that do it.

How Do Canadian Banks Make Money?

Understanding where the profits come from makes every number above easier to read. Canadian banks earn revenue from two broad buckets:

• Net interest income. The core of the business. Banks take deposits, lend the money out at higher rates, and keep the spread, called the net interest margin (NIM). This is the line most exposed to Bank of Canada rate decisions, and it is why National Bank’s NIM compression to 2.19% appears in its risk case above.
• Non-interest income. Everything fee-based: wealth management, capital markets and investment banking, insurance, card and transaction fees, and foreign exchange. These businesses need little capital and scale well, which is why they command premium profitability.

The mix is what separates these banks from each other. RBC’s Wealth Management profit rose 32% and Capital Markets 16%; Scotiabank’s Global Banking and Markets set a record, up 37%; TD’s Wholesale Banking grew 76% adjusted; CIBC’s Capital Markets jumped 34%. A bank with strong fee businesses can keep growing when lending margins are squeezed, and that mix difference is a big part of why RBC trades at a premium to the group. At the other end of the page, VersaBank earns almost everything from spread, with $36.8 million of net interest income against $2.0 million of non-interest income in the quarter, which is why its margin figure matters more than any other line in its results.

How Do Interest Rates Affect Canadian Bank Stocks?

Rates cut both ways for banks. Higher policy rates widen the spread a bank can earn on new lending, which supports net interest income, but they also raise borrowing costs for households and businesses, which can slow loan growth and push provisions for credit losses higher. Falling rates do the reverse: margins compress, but credit stress eases and loan demand picks up. The shape of the yield curve matters as much as the level, since banks fund short and lend long.

With the overnight rate held at 2.25% and two scheduled decisions left in 2026, on October 28 and December 9, the near-term question for the sector is less about the policy rate and more about what the existing rate does to credit as it works through household budgets. That shows up in the PCL line, not the margin line, and it usually shows up late.

What To Look For in a Canadian Bank Stock

Six numbers do most of the work, and this page shows all six.

Return on equity. How much profit the bank earns on shareholders’ capital. Read it in the scorecard table above: 18.1% adjusted at RBC down to 14.0% at BMO, against 10.3% at EQB and 8.72% adjusted core at VersaBank. The gap between the majors and the challengers is the clearest single illustration of what scale is worth in this industry.

CET1 ratio. Capital against risk-weighted assets, with an 11.0% regulatory minimum for the Big Six. Every bank’s ratio appears under its heading above. Watch the direction as much as the level: BMO’s fell from 13.5% to 13.0% over a year, and EQB’s fell 20 basis points in a quarter.

PCL trend. Provisions as a share of loans, quarter over quarter, not the dollar amount. The scorecard table’s PCL column ranges from 0.31% at National Bank to 0.56% at Scotiabank, and the direction of travel is up almost everywhere.

Efficiency ratio. Expenses as a share of revenue, so lower is better. National Bank improved to 51.6% from 55.8% this year, EQB runs 50.1% adjusted, and Laurentian’s 91.0% reported figure tells you most of what you need to know about why it is being acquired. A bank cannot cut its way to growth, but a rising efficiency ratio is an early sign that costs are outrunning revenue.

Payout ratio. The share of earnings paid out as dividends. RBC’s 41% is the reference point here: comfortable, and low enough that the dividend can grow without the bank straining capital to fund it. A payout ratio climbing toward and past 60% on a bank means the dividend is being funded rather than earned. For how bank payouts compare with the rest of the Canadian income universe, see our best Canadian dividend stocks page.

P/E against the group, not against the market. Bank multiples are best judged against each other, which is why the at-a-glance table lists them side by side. CIBC’s 15.28 against BMO’s 19.45 is a real difference, and the job is to work out how much of it the risk cases above justify.

Which Canadian Bank Stock Pays the Highest Dividend?

Scotiabank pays the highest yield of the Big Six, and yields move daily, so the live figure for every name is in its own data block above rather than typed into this table. What does not move daily is what each bank actually declared for the most recent quarter:

Declared amounts from each bank’s own Q3 2026 filings: RBC, TD, National Bank, CIBC, Scotiabank and BMO from their Q3 2026 releases and Reports to Shareholders (quarter ended July 31, 2026); EQB from its Q3 2026 Report to Shareholders, p.37; VersaBank from its dividend declaration of September 3, 2026; Laurentian from its Q3 2026 Report to Shareholders, p.17. Forward yields change with the share price, so use the live block under each heading above, which carries its own data date. Yields are not comparable between the ETF and the shares.

Two things worth doing with that table. If you want to know what a given position would actually pay you, run the numbers through our dividend income calculator. And before comparing a bank’s yield with a GIC or a bond, read how the Canadian dividend tax credit changes what you keep, because eligible Canadian dividends and interest income are taxed very differently in a non-registered account.

Canadian Bank ETFs: Own All Six at Once

ZEB is ranked ninth above, but it is not the only way to hold the group, and the funds differ more than their names suggest:

Fees as stated on each issuer’s own product page or ETF Facts document, dated between February and June 2026. We have not published fund sizes or distribution yields because those could not be confirmed from issuer documents in our research pass.

Two distinctions decide most of this choice. The first is XFN against everything else: it is a financials fund, so a third of what you own is not a bank, and in a quarter when insurers and banks move differently that matters more than the fee. The second is HBNK against ZEB, which hold the same six banks on the same equal-weight principle at very different prices, 0.09% against 0.28%. Over a decade that gap compounds into real money on the same portfolio. Fees are the one input to a fund’s return you can know in advance, which is a general point about index investing rather than a bank one, and our best Canadian ETFs page applies it across the rest of the market.

Canadian Bank Earnings: What Just Happened and What’s Next

The Big Six reported fiscal Q3 2026 (quarter ended July 31, 2026) during the week of August 25, 2026:

• Tuesday, Aug 25: BMO and Scotiabank both beat
• Wednesday, Aug 26: National Bank beat on both lines
• Thursday, Aug 27: RBC and CIBC beat, and TD posted the week’s largest beat

The challengers reported around them: EQB on August 26, 2026, in its first quarter including PC Financial, Laurentian on August 27, 2026 without a conference call because of the pending acquisition, and VersaBank on September 3, 2026.

With the Bank of Canada holding at 2.25% on September 2, the next scheduled events for the sector are the October 28 rate decision and the banks’ fiscal fourth-quarter results, which close their books on October 31. For the broader market context, our best Canadian stocks pillar tracks how the banks fit alongside the rest of the TSX.

FAQ: Canadian Bank Stocks

What are the Big Six Canadian bank stocks?

The Big Six are Royal Bank of Canada (RY), TD Bank Group (TD), Bank of Montreal (BMO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), CIBC (CM), and National Bank of Canada (NA). All six trade on the TSX, and together they dominate Canadian retail and commercial banking. Canadian Western Bank is no longer a seventh option; it was acquired by National Bank.

Which Canadian bank stock pays the highest dividend?

As of August 28, 2026, Scotiabank (BNS) has the highest dividend yield of the Big Six at 3.54% ($4.56 per share annually). BMO follows at 2.85%, then CIBC at 2.69% and TD at 2.67% (Source: StockAnalysis). Live yields for every name on this page are in the data block under each heading.

Are Canadian bank stocks a good buy right now?

All six banks beat adjusted earnings estimates in the quarter ended July 31, 2026, extending a beat streak that, per Investing.com, had already run four consecutive quarters for every Big Six bank. Profitability is strong (ROE between 14.2% and 17.9% across the group this quarter) and capital ratios are all at 13.0% or higher. Against that, valuations sit well above their 52-week lows, so today’s buyer is paying for demonstrated strength rather than distress. There are no guaranteed winners; position sizing and a long horizon matter more than timing.

Are Canadian bank stocks safe?

They are among the most conservatively capitalised banks in the world, but the shares themselves carry no guarantee. CDIC insurance covers deposits up to $100,000 per eligible category, not shares, so a bank’s stock can fall while its accounts remain fully protected. The safety case rests on capital ratios above 13% against an 11.0% requirement, a regulator that forces buffer building in good times, and dividends unbroken through 2008-09. The risks are the credit cycle, concentration in the Canadian consumer, rate sensitivity, and the fact that owning several Canadian banks is one bet on one economy held several ways.

Which Canadian bank stock is the cheapest?

By trailing P/E, CIBC is the cheapest of the Big Six at 15.28 as of August 28, 2026, followed by Scotiabank at 16.83 (Source: StockAnalysis). Cheapest is not the same as best; the discount reflects CIBC’s heavier Canadian consumer concentration.

Should I hold bank stocks in a TFSA or RRSP?

Both work, and the dividends are eligible Canadian dividends either way. The RRSP suits the banks’ profile especially well: long holding periods, steady dividends, and lower volatility than most of the TSX. Consult a financial advisor about which account fits your situation.

What is a CET1 ratio and why does it matter for bank stocks?

Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) measures a bank’s core capital against its risk-weighted assets. It is the cushion that absorbs losses before depositors or the system are at risk, and Canada’s regulator (OSFI) sets minimum requirements, currently 11.0% for the six systemically important banks. A higher CET1 gives a bank more room for buybacks, dividends, and acquisitions. As of July 31, 2026, TD leads the Big Six at 14.3%, with RBC and National Bank at 13.5%, CIBC at 13.4%, Scotiabank at 13.1%, and BMO at 13.0%.

Stock data from Yahoo Finance, as of 2026-08-30.

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Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Stock data via StockAnalysis as of August 28, 2026; live price blocks via Yahoo Finance as of the date shown in each block; bank results for the quarter ended July 31, 2026; consensus per Investing.com (August 21, 2026). Moving average and crossover figures computed from daily closing prices through September 4, 2026. Questrade® is a registered trademark and/or service mark of Questrade, Inc.