5 December 2014Accounting & tax analysis

RBC exits the Caribbean


The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has confirmed that it will exit most of its wealth management operations in the Caribbean, including its captive business.

These changes impact RBC’s wealth management business, and not its retail business in the Caribbean.

Paul French, a spokesperson for the company, said: “RBC wealth management is realigning certain businesses within our international operations as part of a focused strategy that will enable us to achieve sustainable, controlled growth and profitable scale in our priority markets while providing excellence in service to our clients.”

“As part of this, we will be exiting all RBC wealth management Caribbean operations, with the exception of our investment advisory operations (DS Global) which will be integrated into our wealth management – Canada business. Our Caribbean captives business is one of the businesses being exited.

“We will consider all strategic options for our Caribbean businesses, including, where applicable, identifying interested parties to purchase operations or refer our clients.

“We are committed to working through this transition with our impacted clients over the coming months with the same high level of service that we always provide, enabling them time to make informed and considered decisions.

“The Caribbean continues to be an important part of Royal Bank of Canada’s overall strategy in the retail, personal and commercial banking space and we will consider how best to leverage our capabilities across our Caribbean business going forward.”