Personal mortgage volumes rose 4% year-over-year, excluding the CWB acquisition, with growth expected to continue at a similar pace in the second half of 2025, the bank said on its earnings call Wednesday.
The bank noted that origination volumes remained strong, even as deposit pricing became more competitive.
Executive Vice-President Lucie Blanchet said mortgage spreads were neutral sequentially as strong volumes and renewals offset pricing pressure, particularly in the broker channel.
“Our strengths are where the market remains active,” she noted, pointing to differences across regions and property types. “So, we’re still very, very positive on the outflow on the mortgage front.”
National’s insured commercial real estate lending also continued to outperform, with that book growing at a low double-digit pace, according to EVP Judith Ménard.
The CWB integration is now well underway, with client migrations set to begin this summer. Management said this will pave the way for revenue synergies across mortgage and wealth segments, with the full benefit expected in 2027 and beyond.
Wealth migrations will begin in late fall and continue into early 2026, while P&C transitions will start earlier in the summer. So far, the bank says it’s seeing positive early signs: $27 million in realized cost and funding synergies were reported this quarter, representing 43% of its three-year synergy target.
Chief Risk Officer Jean-Sébastien Grisé confirmed that around 75% of National’s residential mortgage book has now re-priced at higher interest rates.
“90-day mortgage delinquencies remain below the pre-pandemic level, with our clients continuing to demonstrate resilience in managing higher refinancing costs,” he said, adding that the bank continues to monitor impacts from trade-related uncertainty and elevated unemployment expectations.
While its overall CET1 ratio sits at a solid 13.4%, management reiterated it won’t consider a share buyback until it has more visibility on organic growth and completes a fuller capital plan update later this year.
National Bank earnings highlights
Q2net income (adjusted): $ million (+% Y/Y)
Earnings per share: $
| Q2 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential mortgage portfolio | $62.8B | $66.7B | $74.8B |
| HELOC portfolio | $29.5B | $29.3B | $30B |
| Percentage of mortgage portfolio uninsured | 39% | 39% | 44% |
| Avg. loan-to-value (LTV) of uninsured book | 58% | 57% | 59% |
| Fixed-rate mortgages renewing in the next 12 mos | 10% | 12% | 16% |
| Portfolio mix: percentage with variable rates | 28% | 28% | 28% |
| Residential mortgages 90+ days past due | 0.16% | 0.17% | 0.21% |
| Canadian banking net interest margin (NIM) | 2.36% | 2.28% | 2.30% |
| Percentage of the Canadian RESL portfolio comprised of investor mortgages | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| CET1 Ratio | 13.2% | 13.6% | 13.4% |
Conference Call
On broker channel competition
- “The broker channel is always a competitive channel, that’s for sure… But our good performance was able to offset that,” said EVP Lucie Blanchet.
On commercial lending during CWB integration
- “With CWB, this is not a surprise that growth is very soft during the integration. We do expect growth to pick up once clients start migrating,” said EVP Judith Ménard.
On commercial real estate exposure
- “With the growth that we’ve been seeing with our insured real estate, it’s less affected [by economic uncertainty],” Ménard said.
On capital deployment and share buybacks
- “We think it’s a bit early to talk about buybacks at this point in time… Our focus is really on growing our balance sheet,” said CEO Laurent Ferreira.
Source: NBC Conference Call
Note: Transcripts are provided as-is from the companies and/or third-party sources, and their accuracy cannot be 100% assured.
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Last modified: May 28, 2025
