RBC Profit Rises 15% on Gains in Wealth Management, Trading

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Canada, the first Canadian lender to report second-quarter results, posted profit that beat analysts’ estimates on record earnings from wealth management and a lift from trading.

Net income for the three months ended April 30 climbed 15% to C$2.2 billion ($2 billion), or C$1.47 a share, from C$1.91 billion, or C$1.25, a year earlier, the Toronto-based bank said today in a statement. Adjusted profit, which excludes some items, was C$1.49 a share, the bank said, topping the C$1.43 average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Earnings from Canada’s second-largest lender by assets were helped by a 25% increase in wealth management, and higher trading revenue and fees for advising on takeovers from its capital-markets unit.

“These results demonstrate the earnings power of RBC, our prudent approach to risk management and our ability to manage costs effectively,” Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon, 57, said in the statement.

Profit from personal and commercial banking rose 7% to C$1.12 billion from a year earlier on higher mutual-fund sales and lower provisions for credit losses, according to the statement.

Wealth-management earnings climbed to C$278 million, aided by rising equities markets and higher sales, while insurance profit slid 6% to C$154 million, the bank said. Investor and treasury services, which include its global custodial business, posted profit of C$112 million, compared with C$65 million a year earlier.

The bank’s RBC Capital Markets investment-banking unit had profit of C$507 million, a 32% increase from a year earlier, according to the statement.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s largest lender, also reports results today.

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