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Royal Bank of Canada

 
Hoover's Profile: Royal Bank of Canada
 
(NYSE:RY) (Toronto:RY)
Company Financials
Income Statement
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Cash Flow Statement

Contact Information
Royal Bank of Canada
200 Bay St., Royal Bank Plaza
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J5, Canada
Tel. 416-974-5151
Toll Free 800-769-2599
Fax 416-955-7800

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.rbc.com
Employees: 80,000
Employee growth: 14.3%

Royal Bank of Canada reigns as Canada's banking monarch. Canada's largest bank, also known as RBC Financial Group, has five segments: Canadian banking (including business and retail banking and investment), wealth management (asset management and trust services for wealthy clients), insurance (active in Canada and the US), international banking, and capital markets (global wholesale business). In addition to more than 1,100 domestic locations, the bank has about 125 offices in the Caribbean and operations in some 50 countries. Its US operations include RBC Bank (USA) in the Southeast, RBC Dominion Securities, and RBC Wealth Management.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending October, 2008:
Sales: $17,848.3M
One year growth: (24.1%)
Net income: $3,767.0M
Income growth: (34.5%)

Officers:
Chairman: David P. O'Brien
President, CEO, and Director: Gordon M. Nixon
Chief Administrative Officer and CFO: Janice R. Fukakusa

Competitors:
Scotiabank
CIBC
TD Bank

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Incorporated: 1869 as the Merchants' Bank of Halifax
NAIC: 551111 Offices of Bank Holding Companies; 522110 Commercial Banking; 522293 International Trade Financing; 523110 Investment Banking and Securities Dealing; 523120 Securities Brokerage; 523920 Portfolio Management; 523930 Investment Advice; 524113 Direct Life Insurance Carriers; 524114 Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers; 524126 Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers; 524130 Reinsurance Carriers; 525910 Open-End Investment Funds; 525920 Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts
SIC: 6712 Bank Holding Companies; 6021 National Commercial Banks; 6022 State Commercial Banks; 6029 Commercial Banks Nec; 6081 Foreign Banks - Branches & Agencies; 6082 Foreign Trade & International Banks; 6211 Security Brokers & Dealers; 6282 Investment Advice; 6311 Life Insurance; 6321 Accident & Health Insurance; 6324 Hospital & Medical Service Plans; 6331 Fire, Marine & Casualty Insurance; 6351 Surety Insurance; 6722 Management Investment - Open-End

Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest financial institution. Operating under the umbrella brand name of RBC Financial Group, the bank maintains more than 1,100 branches and nearly 4,000 automated banking machines in Canada, where it is among the leaders in consumer loans, home mortgages, personal deposits, business loans, money management, and mutual funds. Royal Bank also owns RBC Dominion Securities (also called RBC Capital Markets), Canada's biggest full-service investment dealer, and RBC Action Direct, the nation's second largest self-directed brokerage service. RBC Insurance is one of the ten largest providers of life insurance in Canada and also specializes in health, home, auto, and travel insurance. In the early 21st century, RBC made an aggressive, acquisition-led move into the U.S. market, where it provides retail banking, insurance, full-service brokerage, and corporate and investment banking services through such units as RBC Centura Bank, RBC Builder Finance, RBC Insurance, RBC Dain Rauscher, and RBC Capital Markets. Based in North Carolina, RBC Centura Bank offers personal, business, and commercial banking services in the southeastern United States. RBC also maintains a large Caribbean retail banking network. In Europe, South America, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, and Australia, Royal Bank offers private banking services and provides business customers a variety of services, including corporate and investment banking, trade finance, correspondent banking, and treasury services.

Founding As Merchants Bank in Nova Scotia in 1864

Founded in 1864 by a group of eight businessmen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Merchants Bank, as it was then called, began with CAD 200,000 in capital to support local commerce. The bank's establishment coincided with a sharp increase in the area's commercial activity, a result of the American Civil War--Halifax was a thriving center for blockade runners crossing the U.S. border.

The bank made a successful start under these conditions, and was incorporated five years later as the Merchants' Bank of Halifax. Thomas C. Kinnear, one of the original founders, was its first president.

During the next few years, the bank expanded conservatively, opening branches in several more maritime towns. Then from 1873 to the end of the decade, a business depression hit Nova Scotia's shipbuilding industry hard and kept the bank's growth slow.

When the business environment rebounded for a short time in the early 1880s, the bank resumed its growth plan, and in 1882 opened its first branch outside Canada, in Hamilton, Bermuda, before it had even expanded as far as Ontario domestically. Although this branch closed in 1889, the bank remained committed to international operations, opening several branches in Latin America before it was well established in western Canada.

By 1896, Merchants' Bank's assets totaled CAD 10 million. The gold rush in the early 1890s in southern British Columbia gave it the impetus to open agencies there in 1897 and 1898, especially because, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the area seemed ripe for development.

In 1899 two more branches were established in New York and Havana. The bank took a conservative approach in developing its Cuban business and made only a handful of initial loans. As confidence in Cuba's future grew, particularly with the formation of the Republic of Cuba in 1902 and the continuing growth of the sugar industry, the bank gradually expanded, opening several branches around the country. (This business upswing came to a temporary halt when the sugar market suffered its first collapse, in 1920.)

In an effort to distinguish the bank from two other institutions with similar names, the bank was renamed The Royal Bank of Canada in 1901. For the next hundred years, the bank was often referred to simply as "the Royal."

Relocated Headquarters to Montreal in 1907

The dawn of a new century heralded a period of growth and prosperity in Canada, especially in the area between Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains. The bank grew too, opening more branches and acquiring several smaller institutions. With this growth, the bank decided in 1907 to relocate from Halifax to Montreal, where the general manager was based. The move reflected Montreal's growing importance as a financial center and the relative decline of maritime commerce.

By the following year, Royal Bank had 109 branches and CAD 50 million in assets. This strong base provided the foundation for the bank's acquisition, in 1910, of the 54-year-old Union Bank of Halifax. Subsequent acquisitions of the Traders Bank of Canada and the Bank of British Honduras in 1912 more than doubled the number of operating branches and doubled its asset base by the end of the next year.

At the start of World War I, the Canadian real estate market had collapsed and very little capital was flowing into the country from abroad. In this uncertain atmosphere, the bank could not even promise staff who had enlisted reinstatement upon their return. Soon, however, business expanded sharply as wartime industry geared up, and the bank was forced to break with tradition and hire women.

Although the war put pressure on the Royal's day-to-day operations, the bank continued to grow, buying the Quebec Bank in 1917, the Northern Crown Bank in 1918, and two other banks in British Guiana and Nassau. By the end of the war, the Royal was the second largest bank in Canada, with 540 branches, assets of more than CAD 422 million, and a new foreign trade department to handle its growing international presence.

The Royal Bank weathered the period of economic collapse that followed the end of World War I and, by 1925, had resumed its quest for expansion with the purchase of the Bank of Central and South America and the Union Bank of Canada. The Union Bank was the Royal Bank's largest takeover yet, and strengthened its presence in the three prairie provinces.

The bank's solid structure and leading position in the banking industry helped it survive the stock market crash relatively well, but it was not totally immune. Asset and profit levels fell, branches were closed, staff were laid off, and expenditures and the salaries of remaining employees were cut. Yet, whereas banks in the United States were closing in record numbers, not one Canadian chartered bank failed during this time.

By 1939, total assets were more than CAD 1 billion, for the second time in ten years, and the bank was ready to take advantage of the opportunities World War II offered. In cooperation with other banking institutions, the Royal actively participated in war measures, and it was instrumental in operating a ration coupon system for food and gasoline. Basically the war meant increased government expenditures for the war effort. The bank's domestic business flourished, though internationally its European branches were constrained under German occupation. During the war, specifically in 1941, the Royal gained its longstanding position as Canada's largest bank based on assets, surpassing Bank of Montreal.

After World War II, the Royal led the way in developing the country's oil, gas, and resource exploration industries by providing banking services in remote locations. It opened an oil and gas department in Calgary in 1951, and also established banking services in cities along the British Columbian route of a massive project undertaken by the Aluminum Company of Canada. The bank continued its international expansion with the establishment of the Royal Bank of Canada Trust Company in New York in 1951 as well.

When Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959, the Cuban banking system was nationalized. The Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Nova Scotia were, alone among banks, permitted to operate independently, but the losses they incurred as nationalized businesses transferred their banking to the nationalized system were too heavy, and Royal Bank sold its Cuban assets to the Banco Nacional de Cuba in December 1960.

Offering New Services

In 1962, almost 100 years after its founding, The Royal Bank of Canada adopted a new emblem to replace its original coat of arms. The emblem's design incorporated a lion, a crown, and a globe to symbolize the bank's position as a leading force in international banking. That same year, the bank's offices moved into a new, 42-story skyscraper later known as Place Ville-Marie. The building's construction set in motion a large-scale urban development plan that turned midtown Montreal into a vital commercial district.

At the same time, the bank sharpened its focus on consumer-oriented financial services by entering the market with a product called TermPlan, a package of credit and insurance benefits. Six years later, in partnership with three other banks, the bank introduced Chargex, a credit card that allowed holders to make purchases within a specified credit limit and obtain cash advances through any of four participating institutions.

The 1967 revision of the Bank Act sparked vigorous competition among Canada's chartered banks, which had long operated under a morass of special restrictions. In removing many of these constraints, the new act permitted banks to vie for loans, deposits, and conventional mortgages on an equal basis with other lending and borrowing institutions. By 1967 Royal Bank had written more than half of the residential mortgage loans provided by all of the chartered banks combined.

In the early 1970s, Royal Bank joined forces with five other banks to form Orion, a London-based merchant banking organization designed to enter the financial services market. Although Canadian law prohibited banks from entering this market domestically, Orion competed successfully in placing international bond issues and securities. Orion became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank in 1981, enabling the bank to diversify its operations up to the limits imposed by Canada's banking laws and position itself for the possibility of international banking deregulation.

In 1979 Rowland Frazee, who had been with the bank for 40 years, was appointed chief executive officer. He replaced W. Earle McLaughlin, who became chairman after a popular 18-year reign as CEO.

Continuing Diversification

By 1981, Royal Bank was the fourth largest bank in North America, with assets of CAD 53 billion. Although one-third of that total was attributed to its international activities, the bank had lost its early advantage in many foreign markets to other institutions. One of Frazee's first orders of business was to strengthen the bank's influence in the United States. He poured new capital into the Royal Bank and Trust Company, in New York, and increased its staff. A second Frazee priority was the development of a Global Energy Group, based in Calgary, to provide technical consultation as well as capital for energy-related projects on an international basis. To manage its newly aggressive stance, the bank reorganized into four groups, two responsible for Canadian retail and commercial business, and two to handle corporate banking and international operations.

In 1986 Allan Taylor became chairman and CEO of Royal Bank. Taylor's rise from junior clerk at the age of 16 to chairman 37 years later was a remarkable one. His appointment as chairman replaced the bank's traditional conservatism with a more entrepreneurial approach to the challenges the bank faced.

One of the first challenges Taylor met was the relaxation of rules governing the ownership of brokerage firms by banks. The Royal began negotiations with Wood Gundy, a leading Canadian brokerage firm, in the spring of 1987, some months before the law actually changed. That deal fell through, but the Royal went on to acquire Dominion Securities (later renamed RBC Dominion Securities), the largest investment house in Canada, and one with a history dating back to 1901. An agreement on the purchase was struck just after the stock market crash in October that year. Although it was one of the last of Canada's big banks to enter the brokerage market, by waiting, the Royal got the best deal of all, saving a significant amount over pre-crash prices. When the deal closed in March 1988, Royal Bank owned a 67 percent stake in Dominion Securities; full ownership was obtained by 1996. In the meantime, the bank shortened its name to Royal Bank of Canada in 1990.

Focusing on Fee-Based Businesses

Royal Bank was the second largest bank in North America by 1991 and was seeking to defend its strong position, and further raise its profile in the United States, by acquiring a U.S. retail bank. However, the bank was unable to find a suitable prospect at the right price. In 1991, however, RBC Dominion Securities was given permission to participate in stock underwriting by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Still, problems in the domestic economy in 1991 and 1992, which led the bank to set aside CAD 1.29 billion for loan losses in the fourth quarter of 1992, forced a retreat from Royal Bank's ambitious U.S. plans. Concentrating more on augmenting its Canadian operations, the bank in 1991 acquired McNeil Mantha Inc., a Quebec-based investment dealer, for CAD 22 million.

As the 1990s progressed, Royal Bank concentrated on achieving revenue growth through a focus on fee-based businesses. Much of this was growth achieved through additional acquisitions, mainly domestic. The bank moved quickly in response to a June 1992 change in Canadian law that allowed banks to own 100 percent of insurance companies and to offer travel insurance with the early 1993 acquisition of Voyageur Travel Insurance Ltd., the largest provider of travel insurance in Canada. Also acquired in 1993 was Royal Trustco for CAD 1.3 billion, a deal that increased Royal Bank's assets by about CAD 1.1 billion, or 10 percent. Royal Trustco was Canada's largest money manager, including the handling of a large family of mutual funds, and had a strong position in global private banking.

In late 1994, John Cleghorn, a 20-year Royal Bank veteran who had been president and chief operating officer, replaced Taylor as chairman and CEO. Under Cleghorn, the bank continued to acquire fee-based businesses. In 1995 RBC Dominion Securities bolstered its investment banking operation through the acquisition of Kidder Peabody's equity derivatives team. During 1996 and early 1997 Royal Bank made four additional significant acquisitions. In January 1996 Westbury Canadian Life Insurance Company, based in Hamilton, Ontario, was purchased, bringing with it CAD 90 million in annual premiums. In August of that same year, Royal Bank bought the CAD 47-billion-in-assets institutional and pension custody business of Toronto-Dominion Bank and Trust, then in February 1997 acquired Bank of Nova Scotia's institutional and pension custody business and its CAD 120 billion in assets under administration. These deals moved Royal Bank into the top ten worldwide among securities-custody service businesses. Meanwhile, in November 1996 RBC Dominion Securities added to its already strong portfolio the operations of Richardson Greenshields Limited, acquired for CAD 480 million. Richardson Greenshields was a Canadian full-service investment dealer with CAD 16 billion in private client assets.

The strong North American economy of the mid-1990s helped Royal Bank post record 1996 net income of CAD 1.43 billion, a huge increase over the CAD 107 million of 1992 and an indication that the bank's strategy of concentrating on increasing its fee-based businesses through the careful yet aggressive pursuit of acquisitions and alliances was paying dividends. Total assets by this time had reached nearly CAD 218 billion ($163 billion). In late 1995 Royal Bank was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a move intended as prelude to an anticipated acquisition of a U.S. money-management business. In the meantime, the bank attempted in mid-1997 to acquire London Insurance Group Inc., the fifth largest life insurer in Canada, but its CAD 2.4 billion ($1.74 billion) offer was topped by Great-West Lifeco Inc.'s offer of CAD 2.9 billion ($2.09 billion). Soon after this failure, Royal Bank entered into an agreement with HB Group Insurance Management Ltd. whereby the two companies would share technology, systems, and expertise to help Royal Bank establish and grow a property and casualty insurance business.

In January 1998, shortly after reporting fiscal 1997 profits of CAD 1.68 billion, a record for a Canadian bank, Royal Bank made a stunning announcement. The bank had reached an agreement with Bank of Montreal on what promised to be the largest merger in Canadian history and one creating the second largest bank in North America with CAD 435 billion ($312 billion) in assets. Then in April a second shock wave hit the Canadian financial services industry: Two more of the "Big Six" Canadian banks, the Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, revealed plans for their own merger. In December 1998, however, Finance Minister Paul Martin rejected both of the blockbuster deals. Ignoring the banks' insistence that they needed to merge in order to compete in the increasingly globalized financial services market, Martin concluded that from the standpoint of Canadians the mergers would create two banks with too much power and would severely reduce competition.

After setting another profit record in fiscal 1998, CAD 1.82 billion, Royal Bank saw its profits fall slightly the following year as revenue increases failed to keep pace with rising expenses. The bank launched a plan to shave CAD 400 million off its annual expenses in part by cutting up to 6,000 jobs from the payroll by the end of 2001, mainly through attrition but also via a retirement program and layoffs. On the acquisition front, in the meantime, Royal Bank remained stymied in its quest to secure a U.S. wealth management company, but in 1999 did complete the CAD 156 million acquisition of Connor Clark Ltd., a Toronto-based high-end money manager.

Big South-of-the-Border Push

Royal Bank had made some small moves into the U.S. market in the late 1990s, such as the 1998 purchase of Atlanta-based Security First Network Bank, the world's first Internet bank. It was in the early 2000s, though, that Royal Bank made a concerted push south of the border via a string of acquisitions. In April 2000 Prism Financial Corporation, a Chicago mortgage broker, was acquired for $115 million. Prism operated 159 retail branches in 25 states. Royal Bank next took a big step into the U.S. insurance industry by acquiring the insurance subsidiaries of Liberty Corporation of Greenville, South Carolina, for $580 million. Through this November 2000 deal, the bank took over Liberty Life Insurance Company and its 625 sales agents and Liberty Insurance Services Corporation, an administrator of third-party life and health insurance and a provider of underwriting, billing, and claims processing services. Also in 2000 Royal Bank's RT Capital Management pension fund unit agreed to pay a fine of CAD 3 million ($2 million) to the Ontario Securities Commission to settle charges of stock manipulation. The unit had admitted artificially inflating the price of 26 stocks in 1998 and 1999 leading not only to the fine but also to the resignation of several top officials at the unit and its sale to UBS AG in 2001.

During 2001 Royal Bank completed three major acquisitions that substantially broadened its presence in the U.S. market. Royal entered U.S. retail banking through the $2.2 billion purchase of Centura Banks, Inc., a midsized regional based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Centura had assets of $11.5 billion and operations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia and ranked as the 14th largest bank in the southeastern United States. The other two big deals of 2001 finally provided Royal Bank with its long-sought toehold in the U.S. wealth-management market. The bank spent $1.23 billion early in the year for Dain Rauscher Corporation, a regional, midsized brokerage firm based in Minneapolis that generated approximately $930 million in revenue in 1999. Later in 2001 Royal Bank paid nearly $600 million for Tucker Anthony Sutro Corporation, another regional brokerage house, this one based in Boston. Tucker Anthony fit nicely alongside Dain Rauscher given that the former's 80 offices were concentrated on the U.S. East and West Coasts, while the latter's 108 offices were in the Midwest, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest.

In August 2001, in the midst of this acquisition spree, Cleghorn retired. At this time, with corporate governance reform much in the air, Royal Bank elected to split Cleghorn's duties. Guy Saint-Pierre was named chairman, while Gordon M. Nixon was promoted to president and CEO. Nixon had previously headed up RBC Dominion Securities. One of Nixon's first initiatives was to oversee the implementation in late 2001 of a new global brand strategy designed to forge a common identity for Royal's ever expanding operations. While keeping Royal Bank of Canada as its legal name, the bank began operating under the umbrella banner of RBC Financial Group. A new logo was unveiled that incorporated this new brand name, and the RBC prefix was added to the name of each business unit and operating subsidiary. For instance, the retail banking operations in Canada became known as RBC Royal Bank, and the U.S. retail bank unit was renamed RBC Centura Banks. The two recently acquired U.S. brokerage houses were merged as RBC Dain Rauscher.

Over the next few years, RBC made several smaller, fill-in type acquisitions, while staying away from any big deals. Results at the U.S. operations were disappointing, and the bank worked to revamp some of its acquired operations and jettisoned a couple of the more troubled ones, including Liberty Insurance Services and RBC Mortgage Company, its U.S. mortgage unit. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 RBC recorded charges of CAD 322 million to write down the value of the mortgage unit and to eliminate nearly 1,700 jobs from the RBC head office. Nixon also shook up the senior management team, bringing Barbara G. Stymiest on board as chief operating officer in November 2004. Stymiest was lured away from the Toronto Stock Exchange, where she had served as president and CEO.

Fiscal 2005 brought more special charges. RBC set aside CAD 591 million to cover potential legal costs associated with several lawsuits alleging that the bank had helped Enron Corporation manipulate its financial statements. Property insurance claims from damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma amounted to another CAD 203 million. Despite these special items, RBC managed a fiscal 2005 profit of CAD 3.39 billion ($2.87 billion), another record for a Canadian bank and a 21 percent increase over the previous year. The performance of RBC's U.S. and international personal and business operations were much improved, with profits surging from just CAD 22 million to CAD 345 million. In January 2006 RBC and Belgian banking giant Dexia NV/SA merged their administrative services arms that provided various custodial services for institutional investors. The resulting RBC Dexia Investor Services ranked as one of the world's top ten global custodians with assets under custody of about $2 trillion.

Royal Bank of Canada, over its 140-plus-year history, had grown from a modest regional bank into a major domestic and international force, with total assets of more than half a trillion Canadian dollars. With its U.S. business improving, RBC in March 2006 announced plans to expand RBC Centura Banks by opening a dozen new branches in 2006 and then upping this figure to between 15 and 20 annually starting in 2008. RBC was also in the process of expanding its Canadian investment banking and brokerage division, RBC Dominion Securities, which was achieving particularly strong profitability in fiscal 2006.

Principal Subsidiaries

Royal Bank Mortgage Corporation; Royal Trust Corporation of Canada; The Royal Trust Company; Royal Mutual Funds Inc.; RBC Capital Trust; RBC Technology Ventures Inc.; RBC Capital Partners Limited; RBC Dominion Securities Limited; Royal Bank Holding Inc.; RBC Insurance Holdings Inc.; Royal Bank Action Direct Inc.; RBC Asset Management Inc.; RBC Holdings (U.S.A.) Inc.; RBC Dain Rauscher Corp. (U.S.A.); RBC Capital Markets Corporation (U.S.A.); RBC Mortgage Company (U.S.A.); RBC Insurance Holding (USA) Inc.; Liberty Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.); Royal Bank of Canada (Asia) Limited (Singapore); RBC Centura Banks, Inc.; RBC Finance B.V. (Netherlands); RBC Investment Management (Asia) Limited (China).

Principal Operating Units

RBC Canadian Personal and Business (consisting of RBC Royal Bank, RBC Investments, RBC Dominion Securities, RBC Insurance, and RBC Liberty Insurance); RBC U.S. and International Personal and Business (consisting of RBC Centura, RBC Dain Rauscher, RBC Builder Finance, Royal Bank of Canada Global Private Banking, and RBC Royal Bank of Canada); RBC Capital Markets.

Principal Competitors

The Toronto-Dominion Bank; The Bank of Nova Scotia; Bank of Montreal; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; National Bank of Canada.

Further Reading

Baragar, Geoff, "Reflections of a Royal Banker," Canadian Business Review, Summer 1987, p. 8.

Blackwell, Richard, "Royal Bank Buys U.S. Broker," Globe and Mail, September 29, 2000, p. B1.

------, "Royal Bank Slashes Jobs Despite Hefty Profit," Globe and Mail, November 20, 1999, p. A1.

Boraks, David, "RBC Embraces Its Plan B," American Banker, December 8, 2004, p. 1.

Cherney, Elena, "Royal Bank of Canada Agrees to Acquire Dain Rauscher," Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2000, p. B4.

D'Arcy, Jenish, "The Royal Throne," Maclean's, March 19, 2001, pp. 32+.

Darroch, James L., Canadian Banks and Global Competitiveness, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994, 334 p.

Donlon, J. P., and Joseph L. McCarthy, "Southern Strategy," Chief Executive (U.S.), October 1992, pp. 38+.

Gibson, Paul, "The Royal What?," Forbes, January 19, 1981, p. 36.

Graham, George, "RBC to Spend C$500m on Consumer Banking," Financial Times, November 21, 1996, p. 36.

Greenberg, Larry M., "Royal Bank to Buy Back Shares amid Reduced Need for Capital," Wall Street Journal, September 13, 1996, p. B4.

------, "Shareholders' Revolt, the Canadian Way: Bash Bank Bosses," Wall Street Journal, January 16, 1997, p. B9.

Hartley, Tom, "Disappointing Free Trade Leads to Royal Bank's Exit," Business First of Buffalo, November 9, 1992, p. 3.

Howlett, Karen, "RBC Takes Charge on Rabobank Settlement," Globe and Mail, February 17, 2004, p. B1.

------, "Royal Bank's Head Retiring," Globe and Mail, February 24, 2001, p. B1.

------, "Royal Buys U.S. Bank Centura," Globe and Mail, January 27, 2001, p. B1.

------, "Royal Makes Big U.S. Insurance Acquisition," Globe and Mail, June 20, 2000, p. B1.

Ince, Clifford H., The Royal Bank of Canada: A Chronology, 1864-1969, Montreal: Royal Bank of Canada, 1970, 152 p.

Koenig, Peter, "Royal Flush--Or a Bank in Turmoil?," Euromoney, November 1987, p. 50.

"Looking for Elbow Room," Banker, June 1986, pp. 61+.

Maley, Dianne, "Building the Bank of Future," Canadian Banker, January/February 1996, pp. 21-25.

McDowell, Duncan, Quick to the Frontier: Canada's Royal Bank, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993, 478 p.

Newman, Peter C., "Allan Taylor's Deal of the Century," Maclean's, April 5, 1993, p. 44.

Noble, Kimberley, "Bitterness on Bay Street: Ottawa Hands the Banks a Resounding Defeat," Maclean's, December 28, 1998, pp. 70-73.

------, "How the Banks Blew It," Maclean's, December 7, 1998, pp. 26-30.

Partridge, John, "RBC Nails New Bank Profit Record," Globe and Mail, December 1, 2005, p. B1.

------, "Royal Bank Gets a Makeover," Globe and Mail, August 21, 2001, p. B1.

------, "Royal Bank Grabs U.S. Broker," Globe and Mail, August 2, 2001, p. B1.

Partridge, John, and Susanne Craig, "Banks Drop $40-Billion Bombshell," Globe and Mail, January 24, 1998, p. A1. Pitts, Gordon, "The RBC Dynasty Continues," Globe and Mail, January 30, 2006, p. B1.

Reguly, Eric, "Decision on RBC's U.S. Assets Puts Nixon's Career on the Line," Globe and Mail, May 25, 2004, p. B1.

Reguly, Eric, Andrew Willis, and Sinclair Stewart, "Is RBC in Full U.S. Retreat?," Globe and Mail, September 11, 2004, p. B5.

Sanford, Jeff, "A Royal Return," Canadian Business, April 25, 2006, pp. 42+.

Simon, Bernard, "Each to His Own," Banker, August 1994, pp. 46-48.

Stewart, Sinclair, "RBC Sets Up $2.3-Trillion Asset Merger," Globe and Mail, June 10, 2005, p. B3.

------, "RBC's U.S. Mortgage Unit Sold for About $108-Million," Globe and Mail, May 28, 2005, p. B4.

------, "RBC to Push Harder into U.S.," Globe and Mail, May 31, 2003, p. B1.

Waldie, Paul, "RBC Sets Enron Lawsuits Reserve," Globe and Mail, October 19, 2005, p. B1.

------, "RBC to Speed Expansion of Operations in the U.S.," Globe and Mail, March 30, 2006, p. B5.

Willoughby, Jack, "Southern Exposure," Financial World, June 11, 1991, pp. 40-43.

— Updated by David E. Salamie


 
Wikipedia: Royal Bank of Canada
Top
Royal Bank of Canada
Banque Royale du Canada
Type Public
TSXRY
NYSERY
Founded Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1864
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people Gordon Nixon,
chief executive officer
Industry Financial services
Revenue $25.34 Billion CAD (2008)
Net income $4.64 Billion CAD (2008)
Total assets $743.09 Billion CAD (2008)
Employees 80,000 (2008)
Website rbc.com

The Royal Bank of Canada (in French, Banque Royale du Canada, and commonly RBC in either language) is the largest financial institution in Canada, measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,000 employees worldwide.[1] The company's primary corporate offices are located in Toronto, Ontario, while it is officially headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. The bank was founded in 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In Canada, the bank is branded as RBC Royal Bank in English and RBC Banque Royale in French and serves approximately ten million clients through its network of nearly 1,750 branches.[2] In the United States, the company operates as RBC Bank and has more than 430 branches across six states in the Southeast, which serve more than a million clients.[3] The company also has 127 branches across seventeen countries in the Caribbean, which serve more than 1.6 million clients.[1] The company's investment banking division operates as RBC Capital Markets, while its investment brokerage firm is known as RBC Dominion Securities.

RBC is listed as the largest Canadian company by revenue and market capitalization by The Globe and Mail[4] and is ranked at number 55 on the Forbes Global 2000 listing.[5] The company has operations in Canada, the United States, and 48 other countries.[6]

Contents

Timeline

  • 1864 - Merchants Bank founded in Halifax.
  • 1869 - Changed name to Merchants' Bank of Halifax.
  • 1869 - Federal charter received.
  • 1870 - 1880s - Expansion in Maritime Provinces.
  • 1901 - Changed name to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
  • 1907 - Head Office moved from Halifax to Montreal.
  • 1910 - Merged with Union Bank of Halifax.
  • 1912 - Merged with Toronto-based Traders Bank of Canada in order to improve its position in Ontario.
  • 1917 - Merged with Quebec Bank, which was founded in 1818 and chartered in 1822 in Quebec City.
  • 1918 - Merged with Northern Crown Bank, which was the result of the merger in 1908 between Northern Bank (established in 1905 in Winnipeg) and Crown Bank of Canada (1904), based in Ontario. RBC's acquisition gave it a strong presence in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
  • 1925 - Merged with Union Bank of Canada, which had begun in Quebec City in 1865 as the Union Bank of Lower Canada, but changed its name in 1886. Union Bank of Canada had moved its headquarters to Winnipeg in 1912, and built a strong presence in the Prairie Provinces.
  • 1932 - RBC closed its branch in St. Lucia.
  • 1959 - RBC opened a branch in St. Vincent.
  • 1960 - RBC returned to St. Lucia.
  • 1961 - Installed its first computer, which was also the first in Canadian banking.
  • 1964 - RBC opened a branch in George Town, Grand Cayman.
  • 1993 - Merged with Royal Trust.
  • 2000 - Merged merchant credit/debit card acquiring business with BMO Bank of Montreal's to form Moneris Solutions.
  • 2006 - Created Institutional Investment Joint Venture with Dexia. It is a 50/50 Partnership called RBC Dexia Investor Services. [7]

International timeline

The Royal Bank Plaza building in Toronto, Ontario
An RBC branch in Markham.

RBC Royal Bank has carved out a name for itself as a leader in the Caribbean region, especially in the anglophone Caribbean.

RBC opened a branch in the Dominican Republic; three more follow.
  • 1913 - RBC opened a branch in Grenada.
  • 1914 - RBC bought out Bank of British Guiana (est. 1836), in British Guiana, and converted it to a branch.
  • 1915 - RBC opened branches in Costa Rica, Antigua, Dominica, and St. Kitts.
  • 1916 - RBC opened a branch in Venezuela.
  • 1917 - RBC opened branches in Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts, Montserrat, Nevis, and Tobago.
  • 1918 - RBC opened a branch in Barcelona, and another in Vladivostok that lasted less than a year.
  • 1919 - RBC opened branches in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paris, Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
  • 1920 - RBC opened a branch in Colombia and a branch in Castries, St Lucia.
  • 1923 - RBC bought and consolidated the banking operations of Pedro Gomez Mena e Hijo in Cuba.
  • 1925 - RBC opened a branch in Peru, and acquired the American-owned, and failed, Bank of Central and South America. The purchase of BCSA brought with it subsidiaries, and their branches, in Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Venezuela
  • 1940 - RBC closed its Branches in Martinique and Guadaloupe.
  • 1960 - The Castro regime acquired the RBC's operations in Cuba. At the time of the forced sale, RBC had 24 branches in Cuba. From 1961 to 1965, RBC maintained a Special Representative in Havana to facilitate trade between Cuba and Canada. Actually, the Special Representative’s primary function after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 was to act as a financial intermediary between the American and Cuban governments to manage the ransoming of the prisoners for food and agricultural machinery.
  • 1970s - As a result of Law 75, RBC's operations in Colombia became Banco Royal Colombiano.
  • 1973 - RBC was forced to incorporate its operations in Jamaica, which became Royal Bank (Jamaica).
  • 1980 - RBC purchased Banco de San Juan in Puerto Rico, adding its 14 branches to the six that RBC already had in Puerto Rico. :RBC sold to Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, its assets in Grenada.
  • 1985 - RBC started to withdraw from much of the Caribbean.
It sold its 12 branches in the Dominican Republic to Banco de Comercio Dominicano.
It also sold its stake in Royal Bank (Jamaica) to Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance.
The Government of Guyana nationalized its operations there and renamed the bank the National Bank of Industry and Commerce Ltd. [8], [9], [10]
Additionally RBC incorporated its operations in Trinidad and Tobago locally, floating the shares, thereby divesting itself of ownership. The new bank took the name Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT).

RBC Bank (USA)

A typical RBC Bank branch in Durham, North Carolina.

RBC has a large retail banking presence in the southeastern United States, marketing itself there as RBC Bank. RBC Bank is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. The bank has recently merged with Flag Bank, increasing its presence in Georgia. RBC continues to grow in the Southeast after acquiring 39 branches of AmSouth Bank in Alabama on March 9, 2007 (previously RBC Centura had no locations in this state).[7] RBC announced on January 17, 2008 that it would abandon the "Centura" brand in April 2008 and the U.S. operations would operate as RBC Bank. RBC's footprint in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida expanded significantly after it completed its acquisition of Alabama National Bancorporation in June 2008.

Logo

Royal Bank of Canada's previous logo (the crown was removed).

The bank's symbol is a golden lion clutching a globe, on a blue background. An older version had a crown above the globe and had the lion facing to the left rather than the right. The change coincided with an expansion in United States markets. The logo is known and recognized in Canada as a famous symbol.[citation needed]

Corporate governance

Edson Loy Pease (1856-1930), a Quebec native, was a chief executive and managing director of the bank and one of the key people in its history. An employee of the Merchants' Bank of Halifax, he built that bank's Quebec business to where Montreal became its centre of operations. His efforts saw the Bank formally relocate its head office in 1907 to St. James Street in Montreal following which he induced the prominent Montreal business magnate Herbert S. Holt to accept an appointment as the bank's new President. While at the time Holt's presidency was largely a ceremonial position, his name substantially raised the bank's profile and broadened its business connections.

The title of Royal Bank's top executive has changed several times. Initially it was styled as President. Later, it became Chief Executive Officer and one often carried additional responsibilities as Chairman of the Board, while the second-in-command was the President. Allan R. Taylor was Chairman and CEO from 1986 to 1994, and he was succeeded by John Cleghorn in that capacity from 1994-2001. Gordon Nixon is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer, as the bank decided to appoint a non-executive chairman after Cleghorn's retirement.

Chief Executive
Chairman (non-executive)

Current members of the board of directors are: Geoffrey Beattie, Douglas Elix, John Ferguson, Paule Gauthier, Jacques Lamarre, Brandt Louie, Gordon Nixon, David O'Brien, Robert Peterson, Pedro Reinhard, Timothy Hearn, Kathleen Taylor, Victor Young, Michael McCain, Alice Labeige.

History of Head Offices

The RBC's office in Montreal at the Place Ville-Marie.

RBC's official legal corporate headquarters still remains in Montreal at Place Ville-Marie. However, the great majority of management operations were moved to its current location in Toronto at the Royal Bank Plaza, making this the company's operational corporate headquarters.

Awards and Recognition

RBC has been awarded with many awards and recognition for its financial products and services. RBC is the most "valuable brand" in Canada for over three consecutive years. RBC is also one of the top 100 sustainable companies in the world. Other awards and recognitions include:

  • In 2007, awarded the "Best Bank" in Canada by The Banker, one of the oldest banking magazines,
  • In 2007, RBC was recognized as the Top Most 100 powerful brands in the world,
  • Was recognized as the "most respected corporation" in Canada[8]
  • In October 2008, RBC was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Later that month, RBC was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper.[9]

According to a global Newsweek ranking, which measures how effectively companies manage environmental risks and opportunities relative to their industry peers, Royal Bank of Canada is the most environmentally friendly company in the world.[10]

In 2002, RBC purchased the naming rights for the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh, N.C., home to the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League and North Carolina State University basketball. The arena was renamed the RBC Center, with a 20-year lease at a cost of $80 million. In June 2006, the RBC Center was host for the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals, and on June 19, 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the RBC Center to win the Stanley Cup.

Controversies

On January 15, 2007, CBC Radio reported RBC is "refusing" people of certain nationalities to open U.S. dollar accounts with the bank.[11] Canadian citizens with dual citizenship in Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea or Sudan (mostly countries with U.S. sanctions) are affected. The U.S. Treasury Department restricts certain foreign nationals from using the U.S. dollar payment system to limit terrorism and money laundering after the September 11, 2001 attacks. RBC replied that the compliance with such laws do not represent an endorsement by the bank and on January 17, clarified its position on the application of the U.S. laws, specifying that "with some exceptions" it does open accounts for dual citizens of the sanctioned countries.[12]

Memberships

RBC is a member of the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) and registered member with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all of Canada's chartered banks.
It is also a member of:

References

  • McDowall, Duncan. 1993. Quick to the Frontier: Canada's Royal Bank. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993 and (in French as) Au coeur de l'action: Banque Royale, Montreal: les Editions de l'Homme, 1993.

Canada China Business Council

External links

Historical bank notes

Royal Bank of Canada

Chief Executive Officer: Gordon Nixon | FY 2007 Statistics: Net income: $5.5 billion CAD (9%) | Market capitalization: $63.8 billion CAD | Assets: $600.3 billion CAD | Employees: 66,748 | Stock symbols: TSXRY NYSERY | Website: www.rbc.com

Major brands by financial service
Financial group: RBC | Canadian banking: RBC Royal Bank | U.S. banking: RBC Bank | Caribbean banking: RBC Royal Bank of Canada and RBTT | Private banking: RBC Wealth Management | Canadian mutual funds: RBC Funds | U.S. mutual funds: Tamarack Funds | Canadian brokerage: RBC Direct Investing and RBC Dominion Securities | U.S. brokerage: RBC Dain Rauscher | Canadian insurance: RBC Insurance | U.S. insurance: RBC Insurance | Capital markets: RBC Capital Markets | Custodial: RBC Dexia

 
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