The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that diverging performances once again dominated the quarterly earnings of Canada's top banks, with just three of the six lenders beating analysts' expectations. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that the trend is likely to continue as banks with more exposure in the United States perform differently than those more concentrated in Canada, said Maria-Gabriella Khoury, a senior director at Fitch Rating Inc. "Banks that have a heavier U.S. presence will need to manage future growth and potential credit impairments differently," she said. Royal Bank, CIBC and National Bank exceeded expectations in their fourth-quarter results last week, but Scotiabank, BMO and TD Bank missed estimates. Ms. Khoury said the banks generally posted robust results and they remain stable, but investors can continue to see this divergence in performance. RBC and CIBC were the standouts and that was reflected in their rising share price during the week. RBC's better-than-expected revenue was due to profit in its key business streams, while CIBC's performance was driven by a lower-than-expected provision for credit losses -- the amount of money a bank sets aside for potential bad loans.