The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that TD Bank and CIBC joined National Bank as the three major lenders that have so far met or exceeded analysts' expectations for the third quarter. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that Scotiabank and Royal Bank's profits fell shy of estimates, and Bank of Montreal reports next week. In most cases, year-over-year profit comparisons have been hampered by increasing loan loss provisions, weak capital markets results and rising costs. Underlying trends like growth in loan balances and the health of consumer credit still look strong. "Results are fairly solid in light of a challenging macroeconomic outlook," Rob Colangelo at Moody's told The Globe. "We could see some moderation in loan growth, you could see margins continue to expand. Over all, the environment still bodes well for the banks." Even so, lenders are adopting a more conservative stance by adding provisions for credit losses to build reserves to cover loans that could default. TD added $351-million in provisions in Q3 and CIBC earmarked $243-million. In both cases, some of the increase was driven by changes to economic models that anticipate future problems for loans that are still being paid back today.