RBC Financial Group
After finishing as the runner-up last year, RBC Financial Group has taken the crown this year by faring well in a tough environment for the country’s banks. In 2002, it increased net profit by 19% and assets by 5%. Although its ROE was unchanged at 16.6%, its cost-to-income ratio improved marginally to 65%.
Beyond its resilience, what sets RBC apart from its rivals is its vision. It is striving to be a market leader not only in Canada but across North America. To this end, it has spent $5.3bn in the past three years to acquire US businesses. The results speak for themselves: the bank now claims to be one of the few that offers banking, insurance, investment banking and wealth management services to clients in both the US and Canada. Impressively, RBC implemented the strategy while simultaneously increasing revenue and reducing risk provisions for bad loans.
Due to the difficult market conditions, RBC has focused a large number of its technological initiatives on realising internal efficiencies and cost savings. These initiatives include straight-through processing, web-based services, a common human resources programme and cross-platform revenue programmes.
“Over the past 10 years, RBC has provided a compound annual total return to shareholders of 20% – the fourth highest among the 15 leading North American financial services companies with which we compare ourselves,” said Gordon M. Nixon, president and CEO. “We have done this by building a more integrated global financial services platform through disciplined acquisitions based on economic, strategic and cultural fit. By sharing best practices across businesses and functions, we can efficiently offer a broad array of quality service to our clients and earn more of their business.”
