Mar 2009 Financial News

RBTT—a precious jewel in RBC’s crown

Mar 04, 2009

Now that all the controversy and debate surrounding the sale of RBTT Bank to the powerful Royal Bank of Canada has evaporated, the North American banking giant is reporting that it is proud of its acquisition. As a matter of fact, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) considers its purchase of RBTT Financial Group last year as its “most significant development outside North America in 2008.” This comes from RBC’s president and chief executive officer Gordon Nixon in the institution’s annual report.

“The RBTT footprint was an excellent complement to our business and has provided us with immediately strong market positions in two new markets—Trinidad and Tobago, one of the strongest economies in the Caribbean, and Jamaica,” he stated. The acquisition, when combined with RBC’s existing Caribbean banking business, makes RBC the second largest banking group in the English-speaking Caribbean with some 7,000 employees serving clients in 17 countries through 127 branches and business centres, with assets of more than US$22 billion. Looking into the future, board chairman David P O’Brien said in 2009 focus would be placed on “integrating RBTT’s infrastructure, technology, products and services to provide a common platform for growth and expansion in the Caribbean.

“We will focus on leveraging the strength of RBC and RBTT’s combined operations and infrastructure to pursue opportunities in high-growth markets such as the Spanish Caribbean and Central and South America,” he said. The report said the bank continued to see opportunities for its Caribbean banking business in the current market environment facilitated by its ongoing integration of its RBTT acquisition. The purchase of the T&T-based RBTT Financial Group, the Canadian mega bank played a major role in the performance highlights of RBC last year since it helped to increase total revenue to US$186 million, due primarily to loan and deposit growth, which was up 10 per cent from 2007.


Source:
Vernon Khelawan
Trinidad Guardian
Wednesday March 4th, 2009

http://guardian.co.tt/business/business/2009/03/04/rbtt-precious-jewel-rbc-s-crown