The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that CIBC analyst Robert Sedran expects loan losses and oil will likely remain a theme in the third quarter reporting season that begins for the banks on Aug. 23. The Post's Jonathan Ratner, writing in Trading Desk, says that Mr. Sedran is forecasting sequential earnings growth of 4 per cent, or flat on an annual basis. The analyst pointed out that the loan loss ratio for Canada's large banks rose four basis points in the second quarter, although that number was skewed by Bank of Nova Scotia's 19-point spike. While his projections call for a 1-per-cent quarterly decline in loan losses in Q3 -- implying a 38-per-cent annual increase --- when collective allowances for credit losses taken by Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank in Q2 are excluded, the forecast climbs to a 4-per-cent quarterly gain, or 37 per cent year-over-year. Bank of Montreal was the only bank to post a decline in loan loss provisions for its Canadian personal and commercial banking business on both a quarterly and annual basis. The analyst forecasts a decline in loan loss provisions for Scotiabank, RBC and TD, as each of them made additions to their collective allowances.