The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: And Brian, you touched upon the disposition questions earlier and you said there might be more in the year ahead, outside of LATAM. I'm wondering
if there is an update on the Thanachart situation?
Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: And then my next one is on the commercial lending growth in Canada. And I don't want to signal you guys out, it seems like we're getting these
double-digit growth numbers from pretty much every bank. And you did quite well this quarter. Just wondering how do you still have -- or what's
your outlook for commercial growth sustaining in the double-digit levels when we have Canadian GDP in the 2% range, what's driving that? I see
from your supplement here, Page 16, a big component of the growth has been the real estate and construction portfolio. And again, I see that
across the group. So with mortgage growth slowing, starts falling off of peak levels, the economy not looking as strong. How sustainable is that
growth? And energy's not going to be a driver either, I don't think. I'd like to hear your thoughts?
Question: Gabriel Dechaine - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: The acceleration in mortgage growth really doesn't have any trickle effect into commercial or wholesale lending, or other areas?
Question: Sohrab Movahedi - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Brian, I just wanted to see where buybacks are relative to the capital deployment plan now? I know you did $4 million or $5 million in the quarter,
$8 million in the year. Do you expect that pace to pick up now that you've got the capital on a pro forma basis closer to 11.2%?
Question: Sohrab Movahedi - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: And the small dispositions that you've noted, they won't have -- will they have any earnings implications that we should think about?
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