CEO Bharat Masrani says credit environment is “remarkably” benign
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Concern about the Canadian economy and housing market may have led short sellers to focus on the Big 6 banks but Toronto-Dominion’s chief executive is not worried.
Speaking to BNN Bloomberg, Bharat Masrani said that the credit environment has been “extraordinarily benign” and after his years in the risk business he says it’s “remarkable.”
While there are concerns about economic growth and the housing market’s ability to contribute to that, Masrani says that he is not worried that we are about to see “the bottom fall out of housing” while noting there are seasonal factors.
For TD, he says that he can say “with confidence” that the housing market is a “very manageable situation” and he personally believes that to be the case for the wider banking sector.
The banking sector is facing several challenges including the rise of FinTechs and the need for digitalization in the industry.
On the economy, he is “more hopeful than others” that things will be ok, but he added that caveat that it depends on the US economy staying strong.
Lost brand value
Despite the optimism, Mr Masrani did accept that Canada has lost some of its brand value in recent years.
He said it has slipped from its status of being the “darling of the world where everyone wanted to invest,” but he says things go in cycles and while there are problems that need to be fixed, there are also lots of strengths.
