	canadian imperial sees lower loan losses canadian imperial bank of commerce earlier reporting higher net income for the first quarter ended january said it expects loan losses to be lower than last year s mln dlrs however the bank said it will maintain the high level of provisioning for loan losses established last year because of many market uncertainties commerce bank set loan loss provisions of mln dlrs in fiscal ended october the bank earlier said first quarter net income rose to mln dlrs from mln dlrs in the prior year profit per basic share after dividends fell to cts from year ago cts commerce bank said because of market uncertainties it used an estimate of mln dlrs for fiscal loan losses in calculating first quarter results the bank s first quarter provision for loan losses rose to mln dlrs from mln dlrs in the prior year commerce bank also said it will continue to adopt an agressive posture in adding to its general provisions against loan exposure to countries designated by the federal government s inspector general of banks first quarter net partly benefitted from net interest income up to mln dlrs from year ago mln dlrs commerce bank said improved other income which rose to mln dlrs from year earlier mln dlrs and net income was partially offset by the increased loan loss provisions non interest expenses and income taxes the bank said first quarter total assets increased to billion dlrs from mln dlrs in the prior year due mainly to continued expansion in consumer loan and mortgage fields return on assets increased by two cts to cts per dlrs of average assets from the first quarter in fiscal but declined two cts from fiscal fourth quarter the bank also said total non accrual loans increased to billion dlrs in the first quarter from year ago billion dlrs however non accrual loans declined mln dlrs from fiscal year end despite the recent announcement of the suspension of interest payments by brazil virtually all of the bank s loans to this country were income producing up to january and there was little adverse impact on the bank s ings prior to the announcement commerce bank said the bank did not disclose a forecast of the impact on future ings by brazil s suspension of interest payments reuter 
