RBC Wealth Profit Rises 72% to $213 Million

Royal Bank of Canada’s wealth management division reported net income of $213 million for the first quarter ended Jan. 31, up 72% from the $91 million from a year earlier, partly due to higher fee-based client assets and some accounting adjustments.

But, those increases were also offset by lower transaction volumes, according to the company’s earnings announcement.

“Our wealth management business benefited from improved market conditions over last year, resulting in higher average free-based client assets and a return of investor confidence,” said Gordon M. Nixon, RBC’s president and chief executive officer. “We continue to leverage our global capabilities to differentiate our product and service offerings to both individual and inspirational clients.”

The wealth management division is also appealing to advisers nationally. RBC has been on a recruiting tear lately, luring high-producing teams and advisers from a number of competitors including Stifel Nicolaus, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and UBS.

RBC Wealth boosted its cash payouts by at least 1% for all advisers doing at least $400,000 in trailing-12 production. It also did not cut cash payouts on the lower end of the production spectrum.

The parent company, Royal Bank of Canada, reported that its quarterly earnings increased 35% to $1.45 billion from a year earlier. It cited “general improvement in market and economic conditions” as the main reason.

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