National Bank of Canada's profit handily beats estimates

(Reuters) - National Bank of Canada (Toronto:NA.TO - News) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, largely boosted by its wealth management and personal and commercial businesses.

Canada's sixth-largest bank said net income in its personal banking and commercial business rose 18.3 percent to C$213 million ($159.91 million), helped by higher personal mortgage lending.

Net income in its wealth management business rose to C$101 million in the first quarter ended Jan. 31 from C$77 million.

The bank said its core tier 1 capital ratio, a key measure of its financial strength, increased to 10.6 percent, from 10.1 percent a year earlier.

National Bank of Canada, which was the top adviser on Canadian debt issues for corporations and governments in 2016, said its net income rose to C$497 million, or C$1.34 per share, in the latest quarter from C$261 million, or 67 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the bank earned C$1.35 per share, handily beating the average analysts' estimate of C$1.26, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

National Bank of Canada is the latest Canadian lender to report a better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Bank of Montreal (Toronto:BMO.TO - News) and Laurentian Bank of Canada (Toronto:LB.TO - News) also beat on profit estimates, while Bank of Nova Scotia's (Toronto:BNS.TO - News) earnings were broadly in line.

National Bank of Canada's total revenue rose 26.7 percent to C$1.63 billion.

(Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sriraj Kalluvila)