CIBC to set aside $628m to cover damage in lawsuit

Bloomberg

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) plans to set aside C$850 million ($628 million) to cover damages in a lawsuit with Cerberus Capital Management LP that it’s still fighting.
The after-tax provision will reduce the bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio by about 30 basis points, the Toronto-based bank said. CIBC reiterated that it plans to appeal the court’s decision.
CIBC shares rose 1% to C$55.94 in Toronto. The stock slid 26% in 2022, including a 15% drop in December after the ruling was disclosed.
The judgment against CIBC threatens to push the bank’s capital levels closer to the minimum mandated by Canada’s banking regulator, which unexpectedly raised those requirements about a week after the ruling.
CIBC’s CET1 ratio was 11.7% as of October 31, and the minimum required is 11% as of February 1.
Bank of Montreal raised C$2.6 billion in a stock sale to bolster its capital levels in
the weeks after the regulator’s decision.
The lawsuit, which Cerberus filed in 2015, accuses CIBC of defaulting on payments related to a limited-recourse note that the bank issued to Cerberus to reduce its exposure to the US residential real estate market. CIBC issued the note in 2008 and sold a residual interest in the specified payment streams to Cerberus in 2011.
Cerberus has claimed damages of $1.07 billion in the case. CIBC said Wednesday that it expects the total amount of damages, including pre-judgment interest, to be about $848 million through December 1, 2022. It will take the provision in its fiscal first quarter ending on January 31.