The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that bank stocks have weathered recent restructuring charges well. The Globe's David Berman writes that since the fourth quarter of 2013, these charges have totalled about $2-billion, and more are likely on the way as banks shift resources from traditional branch banking to the development of whiz-bang features for mobile phones and computers. Yet, bank stocks have risen more than 18 per cent over this period, outperforming the broader S&P/TSX composite index by about four percentage points. Canadian bank stocks have also outperformed European and U.S. peers by wide margins this year. Mr. Berman thinks there could be a longer-term payoff from the restructuring if lenders become leaner as they face new "fintech" competition. Whether the charges could even lead to bigger bank profits will be on investors' minds next week when the Big Six banks roll out their fiscal third-quarter financial results. Bank of Montreal will kick off earnings season on Tuesday. CIBC analyst Robert Sedran found that, theoretically at least, they could boost bank profits by an average of 6 per cent between 2017 and 2019 if the banks do not reinvest most of their savings.