Royal Bank of Canada enters Indian market; targets high net worth individuals news
02 February 2008

Mumbai: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the largest bank in Canada by assets and market cap, has opened a representative office in Mumbai, marking its entry into the fast growing Indian market.

RBC opened its first representative office at the Bandra-Kurla complex in the metropolis yesterday, becoming the second Canadian bank to enter India.

RBC will offer capital market products and services, wealth management services for high net worth individuals and correspondent banking and trade finance services to Indian financial institutions, said its president and CEO Gordon Nixon who opened the office on Friday.

RBC, based in Toronto, has little operations outside North America and is its first foray into Asia.

Since the bank had embarked on expansion outside North America, India "is a natural choice" for their strategy in Asia, he said, adding, that the Indian economy presented huge opportunities for RBC.

"India is showing an increasing demand for areas in which RBC has competitive strengths - infrastructure and project finance, energy, metals and mining, structured products, currency and bond trading, and wealth management services," Nixon said.

The bank has appointed Akhauri Sinha as India head and Dipendarra J Singh as head of its wealth management business.

Vikas Jambotkar will look after RBC's services to Indian financial institutions as well as capital markets services to corporations, the bank said in a statement.

People of Indian origin comprise the second largest Asian immigrant population in Canada after China and Nixon said, the bank was now well positioned to help them invest back into India's buoyant economy.

The bank has 40 per cent of its revenues coming from outside Canada. Of this, 20-25 per cent of revenues comes from its operations in the US. The balance 15 per cent is earned out of operations in Asia and other countries. RBC also has a branch in Beijing and a joint venture in the asset management space in China. 

RBC is one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies and provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking and transaction processing globally.

It currently employs around 70,000 full and part-time employees, serving over 15 million customers in Canada, the US and 36 other countries, the statement added.

 


 search domain-b
  go
 
Royal Bank of Canada enters Indian market; targets high net worth individuals