The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that some of Canada's biggest banks say they are focusing on organic growth instead of relying on U.S. acquisitions to improve profits. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that banks which comfortably beat their targets recently did so because of their focus is on Canadian operations. CIBC chief executive officer Victor Dodig, speaking at a Toronto financial conference Wednesday, said "organic growth is the driver" no matter how one looks at the math, be it the Canadian or the U.S. market. "We think that is the highest and best use of our capital." Mr. Dodig said CIBC would be interested in the "occasional tuck-in" acquisition, but it wouldn't take "three steps back" or dilute its return on equity. BMO boss Darryl White, though, said that investing the bank's excess returns in the U.S. is always profitable in the long run. "I never begin or end a day without reminding myself that the U.S. has a $35-trillion (U.S.) GDP and Canada's is $2.7-trillion," he said. "I acknowledge the popularity index on investment in the U.S. is not very high right now, but I think you have to be very careful to not paint that with one brush. Done right, we think it's a very sound strategy."