The fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of major trucking lender BMO, the former Bank of Montreal, appear to show a sudden and significant weakening of trucking credit metrics.
BMO’s transportation bank of business — its gross loans and acceptances — rose to approximately CA$15.7 billion ($11.6 billion) in the quarter, its highest on record. But within that rising book of business, gross impaired loans climbed to CA$170 million, up from CA$113 million a quarter earlier — a more than 50% increase —...