Another day, another bank hikes its dividend as CIBC sees profit rise 2%

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce bumped its dividend up by four cents a share as the bank reported its third quarter profit rose to $1.4 billion.

CIBC said Thursday that its Canadian personal and small business banking divisions showed strong results during the three months up until the end of July, but those segments were offset by weakness in capital markets.

Profit in that segment declined by $34 million primarily because of higher credit losses, especially on loans to companies in the oil and gas sector.

Nonetheless, the bank was confident enough in its outlook to hike its dividend by six per cent. From now on, the bank will pay shareholders $1.44 every quarter, for every share they own.

"We are confident in our business, and we are confident in where it's heading," CEO Victor Dodig told analystson a conference call to discuss the results.

Like all the other big Canadian banks, CIBC has never missed a dividend payment since it implemented one, all the way back in 1868.

CIBC is the second of Canada's big banks to report quarterly earnings this week, after Royal Bank kicked things off on Wednesday.

More to come