Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reporting that its first-quarter profit fell 31%, partly on higher provision for credit losses.

CIBC said earnings for the quarter ended January 31 were $355 million, compared to $242 million the previous quarter and $515 million a year ago.

Adjusted earnings (which exclude unusual items) were $386 million, down from $560 million a year ago. “CIBC delivered strong performance during the quarter in several businesses, including cards, mortgages and Wealth Management, demonstrating that our focus in these key areas is delivering the expected results,” said John Hunkin, chairman and CEO.

“CIBC’s strong retail performance was offset by higher loan loss provisions, in particular to Enron and Global Crossing. We took action during the quarter to address our exposures and build loan loss provisions to appropriate levels. We are actively managing our balance sheet resources and continue to take a prudent approach as it relates to our credit book.”

Hunkin said the steps CIBC has taken over the past two years to increase measurement and accountability and impose greater discipline on capital and balance sheet management have helped CIBC weather the current market downturn. Moving forward, Hunkin said that the company’s focus is to further instill a strong investor mindset throughout the organization and drive growth across all of its businesses.

“We are very pleased with the progress we have made in strengthening our balance sheet, better utilizing our capital and actively managing our risk — all of which have improved the value we deliver to our shareholders,” added Hunkin. “Our focus now is to grow our retail and World Markets businesses and maximize the value of our investment in Wealth Management, particularly our recent acquisitions of TAL and Merrill Lynch’s Canadian retail operations. We remain confident that we are well-positioned for growth as market conditions improve.”

For the quarter, wealth management reported earnings of $53 million, up from 36 million a year ago. CIBC World Markets saw a more modest rise in profit, to $141 million from $113 million a year ago.

CIBC says that it has retained over 90% of the retail brokerage salesforce, combined under the CIBC Wood Gundy name, it has a team of more than 1,600 financial consultants, managing over $90 billion in assets for clients across Canada. CIBC now has 555 registered financial advisers in its branches too.

During the quarter, CIBC expanded and realigned its businesses as part of its strategy to focus more on retail-related operations. CIBC’s management structure has been expanded to five business lines with Amicus being reflected as a separate business line. Two of the other business lines were renamed to reflect the nature of the businesses. CIBC’s five business lines are Retail Products (formerly Electronic Commerce, Technology and Operations); Retail Markets (formerly Retail and Small Business Banking); Wealth Management; CIBC World Markets; and Amicus.

The provision for credit losses for the quarter totaled $393 million, up $306 million from the first quarter of 2001, and up $66 million from the prior quarter (up $114 million after excluding the $48 million provision related to the fourth quarter bulk sale of U.S. loans). While the deteriorating market conditions experienced in the fourth quarter of 2001 continued in the current quarter, the provision for credit losses was further increased as a result of facilities to Enron Corporation and Global Crossing Ltd.