The story
In 1864, the Merchants Bank of Halifax was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a commercial bank that financed the fishing and timber industries and the European and Caribbean import/export businesses. By 1869 the Merchants' Bank was officially incorporated and received its federal charter in the same year. During the 1870s and 1880s, the bank expanded into the other Maritime Provinces. When both the Newfoundland Commercial Bank and Union Bank of Newfoundland collapsed on December 10, 1894, the Merchants Bank expanded to Newfoundland on January 31, 1895.
As the bank grew, executives changed its name to reflect its growth and western expansion. In 1901, the Merchants Bank of Halifax changed its name to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). As Canada’s financial activity became increasingly concentrated in Montreal, RBC moved its head office from Halifax to Montreal in 1907. In 1910, RBC merged with the Union Bank of Halifax. In the same year it built a bank branch in Winnipeg, Manitoba, designed by Carrère and Hastings, in beaux-arts classicism proclaiming the financial dominance of Winnipeg in the prairies. To improve its position in Ontario, RBC merged with Traders Bank of Canada in 1912 and in 1917 RBC merged with Quebec Bank, which was founded in 1818 and chartered in 1822 in Quebec City.
RBC's presence in Manitoba and Saskatchewan was strengthened through a 1918 merger with Northern Crown Bank, the product of the 1908 merger of Northern Bank (established in 1905 in Winnipeg) and Crown Bank of Canada (1904), based in Ontario. RBC's presence in the Canadian Prairie was further expanded by the 1925 merger with the 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. The Union Bank of Canada had moved its headquarters to Winnipeg in 1912, and had built a strong presence in the Prairies and opened the first bank in the Northwest Territories at Fort Smith in 1921.
In 1935, RBC merged with Crown Savings and Loan Co. merged with Industrial Mortgage & Trust Co.
RoyWest Banking Corporation was formed in Nassau, Bahamas in 1965, to undertake medium-term lending and trustee business in the British West Indies. Majority owned by seven firms, including RBC and Westminster Bank, sole ownership transferred to National Westminster Bank in 1987.
RBC installed its first computer in 1961, the IBM 1401, the first to do so in Canadian banking. In the 1960s, RBC Insurance was created. In 1968, it merged with Ontario Loan and Debenture Company (formerly Ontario Savings and Investment Society). RBC Insurance is the largest Canadian bank-owned insurance organization, with services to over five million people. It provides life, health, travel, home and auto and reinsurance products as well as creditor and business insurance services. The completion of Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto in 1976 saw the relocation of many critical head-office functions from Montreal, with Toronto serving as RBC's corporate headquarters ever since. In 1993, RBC merged with Royal Trust.
In 1998, RBC acquired Security First Network Bank in Atlanta—the first pure Internet bank. In the same year, the Royal Bank of Canada proposed to merge with the Bank of Montreal, at the same time as the Toronto-Dominion Bank proposed to merge with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Both mergers were examined by the Competition Bureau of Canada, and ultimately rejected by Paul Martin, at the time the Finance Minister of Canada, and future Prime Minister.
In 2000, RBC merged merchant credit/debit card acquiring business with the Bank of Montreal's to form Moneris Solutions. In 2013, RBC completed the acquisition of the Canadian subsidiary of Ally Financial.
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An RBC branch in The Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa was firebombed in May 2010. The party responsible later identified themselves on Independent Media Center and threatened to make their presence at the upcoming 2010 G20 Toronto summit.
In November 2022, RBC and HSBC Canada announced a deal which would see RBC acquiring 100% of the common shares of HSBC Canada for an all-cash purchase price of $13.5 billion, a multiple of 9.4 times HSBC Canada's estimated 2024 earnings. Completion of the transaction is expected by late 2023, subject to regulatory approvals. In December 2023, RBC received approval from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to take over HSBC Bank in a deal. Conditions for the deal include that none of HSBC Canada's 4,000 employees will be laid off within six months of the closing date or two years for direct staff, and banking services will be provided at 33 HSBC branches for at least another four years. RBC will also provide $7 billion in financing for affordable housing developments in Canada.
International expansion
1882: Merchants Bank of Halifax opened offices in Bermuda and Newfoundland.
1899: RBC opened an agency in New York City and a branch in Havana.
1903: RBC bought Banco de Oriente de Santiago de Cuba. By the mid-1920s, RBC had 65 branches in Cuba and is the largest bank in the country.
1904: RBC bought Banco del Commercio de Havana.
1907: RBC opened a branch in San Juan, Puerto Rico; branches in Mayagüez and Ponce followed.
1909: RBC established a branch in Nassau, Bahamas.
1910: RBC opened a branch in London and acquired branches in Puerto Rico and Port of Spain, Trinidad as a result of its acquisition of Union Bank of Halifax.
1911: RBC opened an agency in New York City, and branches in Bridgetown, Barbados, and Kingston, Jamaica.
1912: RBC bought Bank of British Honduras (incorporated in 1902 by United States citizens from Mobile) in British Honduras, which it converted to a branch.
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 Saint 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, Guadeloupe, 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
1932: RBC closed its branch in St. Lucia.
1940: RBC closed its branches in Martinique and Guadeloupe.
1958: A representative office opened in Hong Kong, which became a branch in 1978.
1959: RBC opened a branch in St. Vincent.
1960: RBC returned to St. Lucia.
1960: Fidel Castro's regime acquired RBC's operations in Cuba on December 8. 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. After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961, the Special Representative acted as a financial intermediary between the American and Cuban governments to manage the ransoming of the prisoners for food and agricultural machinery.
1964: RBC opened a branch in George Town, Cayman Islands.
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 its assets in Grenada to Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
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. Branches in Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten and Dominica are still open (1985–present)
The Government of Guyana nationalized its operations there and renamed the bank the National Bank of Industry and Commerce Ltd.
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).
1986: National Mutual Royal Bank opened in Australia with RBC having a 50% shareholding
1986: RBC sold its two branches in Haiti to Societe Generale Haitienne de Banque, a local bank.
1987: RBC sold its operations in Belize, ex-British Honduras, to Belize Holdings Inc., which renamed them Belize Bank.
1990: National Mutual Royal Bank in Australia sold to the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
1993: RBC sold Royal Bank of Puerto Rico to Spain's Banco Bilbao-Vizcaya.
1995: RBC sold Royal Trust Bank (Austria) to Anglo Irish Bank, which renamed it Anglo Irish Bank (Austria).
2000: Acquired Dain Rauscher Wessels, a US brokerage and investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota
2001: RBC acquired Centura Bank based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
2001: RBC bought the investment banking and brokerage firm Tucker Anthony Sutro (Boston) from John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.
2003: RBC purchased Florida interest in Provident Financial Group, Cincinnati OH.
2003: Hong Kong branch started operating as a licensed bank.
2006: RBC upgraded its representative office in Beijing, China, to a branch.
2006: Created an institutional investment joint venture with Dexia. The 50/50 partnership operated under the name RBC Dexia Investor Services.
2007: RBC acquires Carlin Financial.
2008: RBC established a representative office in Mumbai, India. RBC re-acquired 98.14% of the shares of Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. This brought RBC back to Trinidad and Tobago 20 years after it had withdrawn and provided it with a presence in other islands served by RBTT.
2011: RBC sold RBC Bank to PNC Financial Services for US$3.62 billion. PNC ATMs are now used by customers with RBC Bank (Georgia), N.A. providing Canadians with bank options when they are residing in the US.
2012: RBC completed the acquisition of Dexia's 50% stake in RBC Dexia Investor Services Limited, making it the sole owner of the newly named [RBC Investor & Treasury Services]. RBC also opened a Branch in Wilemstad, Curaçao.
2014: RBC "entered into a merger agreement to acquire City National Corporation", a major U. S. bank.
2015: RBC agreed to sell its Swiss private bank Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) SA to local rival SYZ Group. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) manages CHF 10 billion (US$10.5 billion, C$13.4 billion) of assets for clients in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
2015: RBC completed the acquisition of City National Bank (November)
2016: On January 21, 2016, Aviva announced the acquisition of RBC General Insurance Company, for C$582 million.
2019: RBC agreed to sell its Eastern Caribbean banking operations, in places such as Antigua, Dominica, and Saint Lucia, to a consortium of banks in the region.
2022: RBC announced the acquisition of wealth manager Brewin Dolphin in the United Kingdom, in a deal which valued Brewin Dolphin at C$2.4bn (£1.6bn).
2024 RBC completed the acquisition of HSBC Canada, splitting some assets with the National Bank for competition issues.
From Wikipedia’s article on Royal Bank of Canada, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7