If you invest in a dividend-paying Canadian bank, you need to know the dividend payment dates annually so as to know how much you can rely on the dividends.
But if you’re just getting started and are looking for a stock with a favorable dividend payment schedule, then it’s important to compare different payment dates before finalizing.
Given that not every Canadian bank offers dividends, we’re going to focus only on the 5 big banks — RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, and CIBC.
All the five big banks offer quarterly dividends to investors with a different payment schedule.
Before we explore Canadian banks’ dividend payment dates, it’s essential to define some key terms that we’ll be using throughout the article.
Definition of Key Terms
- Dividend yield: This refers to the portion of a company’s return that is distributed to shareholders per the number of shares they own.
- Record date: This refers to the day that eligible shareholders are determined by the board of directors. On this day, your name must be on the shareholder’s register or company’s book to qualify for the following dividend payment.
- Ex-dividend date: This is the day after which a shareholder is not eligible for receiving a dividend. When you invest in a stock on or after the ex-dividend date, you will not be entitled to the following dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is usually scheduled a day before the record date.
- Dividend payment date: This is the day that the declared dividends are distributed to each investor.
- Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP): This is an investment program that allows fund managers to automatically reinvest dividends instead of paying them as cash to investors. This is usually done without brokerage or service charges.
- Common shares: This refers to a stock that provides investors with voting rights.
- Preferred shares: This refers to a stock without voting right but a priority of the company’s income. As such, some preferred shareholders often receive dividends before common shareholders.
- Open market: This means buying or selling stocks at or close to the market price.
- Treasury: An outstanding stock that was previously sold but is now acquired by the issuing company.
Canadian Banks’ Dividend Payment Dates For 2024
As noted earlier, all the five big banks provide dividends to shareholders quarterly. However, the exact dividend payment dates vary from one bank to the other.
The dividend payment dates are set by the board of directors of each bank. And they vary depending on the type of shares.
In several cases, the dividend payment dates of preferred shareholders come first before the dates of common shareholders.
In what follows, we’ll have an overview of the 2024 common shares dividend payment dates of the five big banks:
| Quarter | RBC Common Shares Dividend Payment Dates | TD Common Shares Dividend Payment Dates | BMO Common Shares Dividend Payment Dates | CIBC Common Shares Dividend Payment Dates | BNS Common Shares Dividend Payment Dates |
| First quarter | February 23, 2024 | January 31, 2024 | January 24, 2024 | January 31, 2024 | January 29, 2024 |
| Second quarter | May 24, 2024 | April 30, 2024 | May 28, 2024 | April 29, 2024 | April 26, 2024 |
| Third quarter | August 23, 2024 | July 31, 2024 | August 27, 2024 | July 29, 2024 | July 29, 2024 |
| Fourth quarter | November 22, 2024 | October 31, 2024 | November 26, 2024 | October 28, 2024 | October 29, 2024 |
You should always bear in mind that the board of directors of each of the banks has the right to change their dividend payment dates.
That being said, below I provide a detailed explanation of each of the big bank dividend payment dates for both common and preferred shares
RBC Dividend Dates 2024
RBC (RY) distributes dividends quarterly usually in the months of February, May, August, and November.
For 2024, the following are the RBC dividend dates for common shares and preferred shares.
| Type of Share | Record Dates | Dividend Payment Dates |
| Common shares and preferred shares (AZ to BH series) | January 25, April 25, July 25, and October 24, 2024 | February 23, May 24, August 23, and November 22, 2024 |
With RBC closing a deal to take over HSBC, we expect to see an increase in the dividend payment. Of course, this may translate to an increase in RBC share price as well.
RBC Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
Common and preferred shareholders of RBC can have their dividends automatically reinvested through DRIP.
RBC reinvests dividends through the open market or treasury. At the time of writing, it does so solely through treasury. However, RBC provides a 2% discount for reinvesting dividends through treasury.
Learn more about RBC Dividend Policy.
TD Dividend Dates 2024
TD also distributes dividends quarterly to eligible investors. These payments are usually made on the last business day of the month of January, April, July, and October.
Unlike other stocks, TD made has the same dividend payment schedule for common and preferred shares.
Below are the TD dividend dates for 2024:
| Record Dates | Dividend Payment Dates |
| January 10, 2024 | January 31, 2024 |
| April 9, 2024 | April 30, 2024 |
| July 10, 2024 | July 31, 2024 |
| October 10, 2024 | October 31, 2024 |
TD Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
TD allows its common shareholders to automatically reinvest their dividends in additional shares through DRIP.
You can decide to have your entire dividend reinvested or choose a percentage.
When reinvesting your dividends, TD may purchase the additional shares through the open market or treasury. When it does so through the treasury, you will get up to a 5% discount on the average market price. Currently, the discount stands at 2%.
Before reinvesting the dividend, TD will notify investors how it will purchase the additional shares including any applicable discount.
Learn more about TD Dividend Policy.
BNS Dividend Dates 2024
BNS or Scotiabank dividends are also paid quarterly usually on the last third business days of January, April, July, and October.
Like TD, BNS also pays common shares and preferred shares dividends on the same day.
That being said, below are the BNS dividend payment dates for 2024:
| Record Dates | Dividend Payment Dates |
| January 3, 2024 | January 29, 2024 |
| April 2, 2024 | April 26, 2024 |
| July 3, 2024 | July 29, 2024 |
| October 2 2024 | October 29, 2024 |
BNS Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
Both common and preferred shareholders of BNS can have their dividends automatically reinvested through an optional DRIP program.
Currently, BNS purchases additional shares through treasury. However, this comes with a 2% discount from the average market price.
As a BNS shareholder, you can reinvest up to $20,000 annually through the DRIP program.
Learn more about BNS Dividend Policy.
BMO Dividend Dates 2024
BMO also pays investors dividends quarterly. The payment usually comes in February, May, August, and November.
For 2024, the following are the BMO dividend payment dates for common and preferred shares:
| Type of Share | Record Dates | Dividend Payment Dates |
| Common shares | January 30, 2024 April 29, 2024 July 30, 2024 October 30, 2024 | February 27, 2024 May 28, 2024 August 27, 2024 November 26, 2024 |
| Preferred shares | January 30, 2024 April 29, 2024 July 30, 2024 October 30, 2024 | February 26, 2024 May 27, 2024 August 26, 2024 November 25, 2024 |
It’s worth noting that the BMO dividend record dates for common shares and preferred shares are the same. But the dividend payment dates differ.
BMO Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
As a common shareholder of BMO stock, you can have your dividends automatically reinvested through the DRIP program.
BMO may reinvest your dividends by buying additional shares from the open market or treasury.
When BMO buys additional shares through treasury, shareholders may get up to a 5% discount from the average market price.
That being said, you can have up to $40,000 of your dividends reinvested annually under the DRIP program.
Learn more about BMO Dividend Policy.
CIBC Dividend Dates 2024
Since 1868, CIBC has been paying investors dividends consistently.
The bank also has a quarterly dividend payment schedule that falls in the months of January, April, July, and October.
CIBC dividend payment dates vary per common share and preferred share. The dates also vary per preferred shares series.
That said, below are the CIBC dividend payment dates for 2024 for ccommon shares:
| Record Dates | Dividend Payment Dates |
| December 28, 2023 | January 31, 2024 |
| March 28, 2024 | April 29, 2024 |
| June 28, 2024 | July 29, 2024 |
| September 27, 2024 | October 28, 2024 |
Learn more about CIBC Dividend Policy.
CIBC Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
Like the other big banks, CIBC also allows Canadian common shareholders to reinvest their dividends automatically through a DRIP program.
However, CIBC purchases additional shares on the DRIP program through treasury with a 2% discount.
As a Canadian shareholder, you can reinvest CIBC dividends with as little as $100 to $50,000 annually.
Dividend Stocks vs Dividend ETFs: Which to Choose?
If you’re just getting started on dividend investing, you may be wondering whether to invest in dividend stocks or dividend ETFs.
First, you need to understand how each of these dividends works.
- A dividend stock provides you with a portion of a company’s income usually on a quarterly basis. To get dividends from multiple companies, you need to invest in each of them individually. Examples of dividend stocks include RY, BMO, TD, BNS, and CIBC.
- A dividend ETF, on the other hand, provides you with a portion of multiple companies’ income through a single fund. Some dividend ETFs pay dividends monthly while others pay quarterly and annually. Examples of dividend ETFs include the RBC Canadian Bank Yield Index ETF (RBNK) and BMO Equal Weight Banks Index ETF (ZEB).
What does this mean? It means that you need more capital to get the dividends of multiple companies by investing in individual stocks. But with a dividend ETF, you will get the dividends of multiple companies in a single fund.
In addition to their low-cost and automatic rebalancing, dividend ETFs are also more flexible than dividend stocks as they provide dividends more regularly.
But the thing is, the providers of dividend ETFs usually charge management expense ratio (MER) which goes from as low as 0.18% to over 0.75%. This can eat deep into your investment and render your dividends insignificant.
Moreso, you can’t influence the performance of a dividend ETF as the allocation of the fund is handled solely by the fund manager.
Nevertheless, you can’t go wrong with dividend ETFs if you’re looking for low-cost diversification and regular income.
Related Readings:
- Check out the best all-in-one ETFs in Canada across different providers
- Check out the best free trading platforms in Canada.
FAQs on Canadian Banks Dividend Dates 2024
Do all Canadian banks pay dividends?
Not all Canadian banks pay a dividend. But all the five big banks pay dividends quarterly.
What months do Canadian banks pay dividends?
Canadian banks usually pay dividends quarterly in the months of January, April, July, and October.
However, given the differences in the fiscal year among the banks, some banks make quarterly payments in the months of February, May, August, and November.
How often are dividends paid in Canada?
It depends on the fund. Some funds pay dividends monthly while others pay quarterly or annually. But most Canadian dividend-paying stocks pay dividends quarterly.
How often does Royal Bank of Canada pay dividends?
Royal Bank of Canada pays dividends quarterly usually in the months of February, May, August, and November.
What months does CIBC pay dividends?
CIBC makes quarterly dividend payments in the months of January, April, July, and October.
How often does Scotiabank pay dividends?
Scotiabank (BNS) makes quarterly dividend payments in the months of January, April, July, and October.
How long has TD Bank paid dividends?
TD Bank has been paying dividends since 1998. This makes it 26 years in 2024.
How long has RBC been paying dividends?
RBC has been paying dividends since 1870. This makes it 154 years in 2024.
Are dividends taxed in Canada?
Yes. Dividends are regarded as taxable income in Canada. As such, your dividends will be taxed according to your marginal tax rate.
You’re expected to report both cash and reinvested dividends on line 12000 when filing your tax report.
The good news is, you can claim the dividend tax credit on line 40425 on your tax return. Learn more here.
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